Home⇛Psychology and Education: A Multidisciplinary Journal⇛vol. 41 no. 7 (2025)

Ethics Position and Machiavellian Traits among Higher Education Stakeholders: Implications for Academic Integrity and Institutional Governance

Renante Avergonzado

Discipline: Education

 

Abstract:

Understanding the relationship between ethical ideologies and Machiavellian traits provides valuable insights for enhancing moral education and governance structures. The main thrust of the study was to determine the relationship between ethical position Ideologies and the Machiavellian personality traits of the faculty, employees, and students of Bohol Island State University (BISU), Bohol, Philippines. Thus, the occurrence of the following features was considered: (1) the Ethics Position Ideologies, (2) the Ethics Position Classification, (3) the Machiavellianism score of the respondents, (4) and the correlation between the ethics position ideology and Machiavellianism trait. This quantitative correlational study employed descriptive methodology utilizing Forsyth's Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ) and Christie's Machiavellianism Scale (Mach-IV). A simple random sampling method created a sample of 477 respondents (134 instructors, 78 employees, 265 students) across five BISU campuses. Pearson correlation coefficients and t-tests were used to analyze relationships between variables. Forsyth's taxonomy of Ethics Position found that the respondents are situationists in their ethics position classification with high idealism (mean=7.09) and relativism idealism (mean=6.39). The Machiavellianism score (Mach-IV) revealed that the respondents lean towards the Machiavellianism personality trait with an overall score of 53.57 over 100 points. Fundamentally, the result shows a significant negative correlation between Machiavellianism (-0.1285, t=-2.582) and a significant positive correlation between Relativism and Machiavellianism (0.2565, t=5.288). These results indicate that tertiary-educational institutions should improve ethics education by combining flexible ideas with fundamental moral values. The predominance of situationist ethical positioning presents both opportunities and challenges for academic integrity. Situationists' context-dependent approach may undermine the consistent application of academic standards while striving for positive outcomes. Moreover, educational institutions should develop ethics education programs that center on the development of individual moral principles that ultimately foster academic excellence and integrity.



References:

  1. Alvarez Jr, A., Contreras, L., Abrantes Jr, R., Ventura, D. R., Villariasa, K., Corcuera, L., Natividad, R., Samortin, M., Gabionza, A., Lot, L., Rodriguez, C., & Chen, J. (2020). Why Ethics? Towards Understanding the Ethical Practices of Academic Program Heads. International Journal for Cross- Disciplinary Subjects in Education. 11. 4310 - 4316. 10.20533/ijcdse.2042.6364.2020.0527.
  2. Aristotle (1996). The Nicomachean Ethics. Wordsworth Editions Limited, Hertfordshire.
  3. Bass, K.; Barnett, T.; and Brown, G. 1999. Individual difference variables, ethical judgments, and ethical behavioral intentions. Business Ethics Quarterly, 9, 183–205.
  4. Beu, S., Buckley, R. & Harvey, M. (2003). Ethical decision–making: a multidimensional construct. Business Ethics, the Environment and Responsibility. http://doi/10.1111/1467-8608.00308
  5. Christie R. & Geis, F. (1970). Studies in Machiavellianism. Elsevier Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/C2013-0-10497-7
  6. Copp, D. (1995). Morality, Normativity, and Society. Oxford University Press New York.
  7. Corral, S. & Calvete, E. (2000). Machiavellianism: Dimensionality of the Mach IV and its Relation to Self-Monitoring in a Spanish Sample the Spanish Journal of Psychology, vol. 3, 1, pp. 3-13.
  8. Dahlsgaard, K., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. (2005). Shared Virtue: The Convergence of Valued Human Strengths Across Culture and History. Review of General Psychology. 9. 203-213. 10.1037/1089- 2680.9.3.203.
  9. Davis, M. (1999). Ethics and the University. Routledge, New York.
  10. Davis, M. A., Andersen, M. G., & Curtis, M. B. (2001). Measuring Ethical Ideology in Business Ethics: A   Critical Analysis of the Ethics Position Questionnaire. Journal of Business Ethics, 32(1), 35–53. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25074552
  11. De l’éducation De McGill, 27(001). Retrieved from https://mje.mcgill.ca/article/view/8011
  12. Doris, J. M. (2002). Lack of Character: Personality and Moral Behavior. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  13. EPH Research Staff (2005). Health Ethics: Concepts and Moral Issues. Educational Publishing House, Manila.
  14. Forsyth, R. (1980). A taxonomy of ethical ideologies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(1), 175–184. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.39.1.175
  15. Forsyth, R. (1992). Judging the Morality of Business Practices: The Influence of Personal Moral Philosophies. Journal of Business Ethics, 11(5/6), 461–470. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25072294
  16. Forsyth, R., O’Boyle, E. & McDaniel, M. (2008). East Meets West: A Meta-Analytic Investigation of Cultural Variations in Idealism and Relativism. J Bus Ethics 83, 813–833, doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9667-6.
  17. Graham, G. (2004). Eight Theories of Ethics. Routledge, New York.
  18. Gunnthorsdottir, A., McCabe, K. & Smith, V. (2002). “Using the Machiavellianism instrument to predict trustworthiness in a bargaining game,” Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), 49-66, February.
  19. Hunt, S. D., & Chonko, L. B. (1984). Marketing and Machiavellianism. Journal of Marketing, 48(3), 30-42. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224298404800304.
  20. Kirman, J. L. (1992). Values, technology, and social studies. McGill Journal of Education/Revue Des Sciences
  21. Kramer, D. K. (2011). Triggers of Acute Changes in Ethical Attitude: Do Honour Codes cause Priming Effects? Master’s Thesis, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden.
  22. Leary, M., Knight, P. & Barne, B.  (1986). Ethical Ideologies of the Machiavellian. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Vol 12, Issue 1, p75. 10.1177/0146167286121008
  23. Lee, K., & Ashton, M. C. (2004). Psychometric properties of the HEXACO personality inventory. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39(2), 329–358. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327906mbr3902_8.
  24. Malinowski, Carl. (2009). The relationship between Machiavellianism and undergraduate student attitudes about hypothetical marketing moral dilemmas. Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal Incorporating Journal of Global Competitiveness. 19. 398-408. 10.1108/10595420910996019.
  25. McCabe, D.L., Butterfield, K.D. & Treviño, L.K. (2003). Faculty and Academic Integrity: The Influence of Current Honor Codes and Past Honor Code Experiences. Research in Higher Education 44, 367–385. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023033916853
  26. Muegs, M. (2010). http://mikemuegs.blogspot.com/2010/07/values-moral-education-aims-content.html
  27. Noblit, G.W. and Van O. Demsey. O.V. (1996). The Social Construction of Virtue: The Moral Life of School. State University of New York Press, New York.
  28. Noddings, N. (1994). Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. Boulder, Virginia Held.
  29. O’Fallon, M.J., and Butterfield, K.D. 2005. A review of the empirical ethical decision-making literature: 1996–2003. Journal of Business Ethics, 59, 375–413.
  30. Parsons, P.J. (2008). Ethics in Public Relations: A Guide to Best Practice. Kogan Page Publisher. London.
  31. Pastor, G. (1982). Cold Syndrome of the Shrewd Personality. Social Psychology of Machiavellianism. Bibliotheca Salmanticensis, Salamanca, Spain.
  32. Rest J. R. and Navaez, D. (1994). Moral Development in the Professions: Psychology and Applied Ethics. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Hillsdale.
  33. Ricks, J. & Fraedrich, J. (1999). The paradox of machiavellianism: Machiavellianism may make for productive sales but poor management reviews. Journal of Business Ethics 20 (3):197 - 205.
  34. Santiago, M. (1010). https://web.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/75646104!.pdf
  35. Setiawan, D., Sitorus, J. & Natsir, M., 2018. Inhibiting Factor of Primary School Teacher Competence in Indonesia: Pedagogic and Professionalism. Asian Social Science Journal, 14(6), pp. 30-42.
  36. Sims, R. (2002). Teaching Business Ethics for Effective Learning. Quorum Books. Westport, CT.
  37. Soskolne, C. L., & Macfarlane, D. K. (1995). Scientific misconduct in epidemiologic research. In S. S. Coughlin & T. L. Beauchamp (Eds.), Ethics and Epidemiology (pp. 264–282). New York: Oxford University Press.
  38. Treviño, L. K., Weaver, G. R., & Reynolds, S. J. (2006). Behavioral ethics in organizations: A Review. Journal of Management, 32(6), 951-990.
  39. Tully, I. (2014). Situationism and Virtue Ethics. https://1000wordphilosophy.com/2014/03/10/situationism-and-virtue-ethics/.
  40. Urofsky, R. and Sowa, C. (2004). Counseling and Values. Ethics Education in CACREP- Accredited Counselor Education Programs. Volume: 49. Issue: 1. American Counseling Association, October.

Tools


Copyright © 2025  KITE Digital Educational Solutions |  Exclusively distributed by CE-Logic