The antecedents of moral identity: A meta-analytic review

2023/06/03 by Xiaofeng Xu, Miaomiao Li, Ho Kwong Kwan +1
Decision Sciences · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Big Five personality traits #Collectivism #Context (archaeology) #Cultural Differences and Values #Cultural identity #Ethics in Business and Education #Identity (music) #Individualism #Moral disengagement #Personality #Perspective (graphical) #Political science #Psychology #Social and Intergroup Psychology #Social cognitive theory of morality #Social group #Social identity approach #Social identity theory #Social psychology #Style (visual arts)

paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s10490-023-09891-8

crossref issued 2023/06/03 · crossref published 2023/06/03 · crossref published-online 2023/06/03 · openalex publication_date 2023/06/03 · crossref created 2023/06/03 · crossref published-print 2024/09/01 · crossref deposited 2024/11/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/08/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02

Abstract

Abstract Moral identity is an important self-concept. Taking a social cognitive perspective, we propose an integrative framework to examine the relationships between moral identity and its antecedents, including demographic variables, personality traits, and organizational contexts (specifically leadership style and ethical climate). An analysis of the effect sizes in 110 studies involving 44,441 participants shows that gender, personality traits, and organizational context are strongly associated with moral identity. The moral identity measure used, cultural tendencies toward individualism or collectivism, and demographic characteristics moderate the relationships between moral identity and its antecedents. The significance and implications of the factors that influence moral identity are discussed.

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