Business ethics also focuses on how humans make ethical decisions, or, put differently, on moral judgment-making. A moral judgment is a specific type of judgment. People make hundreds of decisions on a daily basis. We make simple decisions (for example: should I choose apple pie of cherrypie today?) but we also make more difficult decisions that force us to stop and think. One such decision is a moral judgment, or a judgment on how we ought to act right in a particular situation (for example: should I be honest and tell my lecturer that one of my fellow students, who is also my friend, underperforms during group assignments?).
A moral judgment is different from a legal or economic judgment. A legal judgment involves a decision about how to act that is based on existent laws. An economic judgment involves a decision about how to act based on certain economic considerations (for example: does this act contribute to the profits of a business?). Moral judgments, however, involve judgments about whether a certain act is right based on so-called moral reasons. The best known examples of moral reasons are principles, such as ‘do not lie,’ the consequences of our actions, and virtues like courage or honesty (Van der Deijl, 2022). Moral judgment-making is highly complex but the good news is that people can learn to become better at these judgments. This guide provides specific articles about moral judgment-making, about how to become better at forming these judgments, and a MOOC that is specifically related to this theme.