Mere moral beliefs aren't sufficient to determine pro-social behaviors! A moderated mediation framework tested in healthcare settings based on Belief in Self-Determinism (BSD) Theory

Healthcare professionals may frequently violate organizational policies to deal with ethical dilemmas challenging quality of patient care. However, healthcare professionals need strong moral foundation to justify such violation of organizational policies. This study emphasized on morality as one of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Muhammad Ali Asadullah, Tabassum Iqbal, Ali Haj Khalifa, Sajid Haider
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Acta Psychologica
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825000769
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1825206949822595072
author Muhammad Ali Asadullah
Tabassum Iqbal
Ali Haj Khalifa
Sajid Haider
author_facet Muhammad Ali Asadullah
Tabassum Iqbal
Ali Haj Khalifa
Sajid Haider
author_sort Muhammad Ali Asadullah
collection DOAJ
description Healthcare professionals may frequently violate organizational policies to deal with ethical dilemmas challenging quality of patient care. However, healthcare professionals need strong moral foundation to justify such violation of organizational policies. This study emphasized on morality as one of the social factors nurturing individual characters embodying prosocial violation as explained by ‘Belief in Self-Determinism (BSD) Theory.’ Building on moral perspective of prosocial behaviors, this study explains that mere moral beliefs are insufficient to drive pro-social behaviors at the workplace until they are integrated with moral attitudes. This study tested a mechanism to explain how moral courage strengthens the effect of moral conviction on prosocial rule-breaking (PSRB) behaviors of healthcare professionals conditional to their professional experience. A sample of 129 doctors serving in public sector hospitals in Pakistan demonstrated that moral courage strengthens the role of moral conviction in pro-social rule-breaking behavior. The study also found that the mediating role of moral courage between moral convictions and pro-social rule-breaking differs across different levels of professional experience. Particularly, the meditating role of moral courage between moral convictions and prosocial behaviors reduces with the increase in professional experience. This study offers some important implications for healthcare professionals to regulate healthcare professionals' prosocial based on their moral beliefs, moral attitudes, and professional experience.
format Article
id doaj-art-61914732b8c647d58a4d070f5a12c7cf
institution Kabale University
issn 0001-6918
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Acta Psychologica
spelling doaj-art-61914732b8c647d58a4d070f5a12c7cf2025-02-07T04:46:33ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182025-03-01253104763Mere moral beliefs aren't sufficient to determine pro-social behaviors! A moderated mediation framework tested in healthcare settings based on Belief in Self-Determinism (BSD) TheoryMuhammad Ali Asadullah0Tabassum Iqbal1Ali Haj Khalifa2Sajid Haider3College of Business Administration, University of Khorfakkan, Sharjah, United Arab EmiratesDepartment of Business Administration, Air University, Islamabad, Multan Campus, Pakistan; Corresponding author.College of Business Administration, University of Khorfakkan, Sharjah, United Arab EmiratesCOMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus, PakistanHealthcare professionals may frequently violate organizational policies to deal with ethical dilemmas challenging quality of patient care. However, healthcare professionals need strong moral foundation to justify such violation of organizational policies. This study emphasized on morality as one of the social factors nurturing individual characters embodying prosocial violation as explained by ‘Belief in Self-Determinism (BSD) Theory.’ Building on moral perspective of prosocial behaviors, this study explains that mere moral beliefs are insufficient to drive pro-social behaviors at the workplace until they are integrated with moral attitudes. This study tested a mechanism to explain how moral courage strengthens the effect of moral conviction on prosocial rule-breaking (PSRB) behaviors of healthcare professionals conditional to their professional experience. A sample of 129 doctors serving in public sector hospitals in Pakistan demonstrated that moral courage strengthens the role of moral conviction in pro-social rule-breaking behavior. The study also found that the mediating role of moral courage between moral convictions and pro-social rule-breaking differs across different levels of professional experience. Particularly, the meditating role of moral courage between moral convictions and prosocial behaviors reduces with the increase in professional experience. This study offers some important implications for healthcare professionals to regulate healthcare professionals' prosocial based on their moral beliefs, moral attitudes, and professional experience.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825000769Moral convictionMoral couragePro-social rule breakingProfessional experienceMorality
spellingShingle Muhammad Ali Asadullah
Tabassum Iqbal
Ali Haj Khalifa
Sajid Haider
Mere moral beliefs aren't sufficient to determine pro-social behaviors! A moderated mediation framework tested in healthcare settings based on Belief in Self-Determinism (BSD) Theory
Acta Psychologica
Moral conviction
Moral courage
Pro-social rule breaking
Professional experience
Morality
title Mere moral beliefs aren't sufficient to determine pro-social behaviors! A moderated mediation framework tested in healthcare settings based on Belief in Self-Determinism (BSD) Theory
title_full Mere moral beliefs aren't sufficient to determine pro-social behaviors! A moderated mediation framework tested in healthcare settings based on Belief in Self-Determinism (BSD) Theory
title_fullStr Mere moral beliefs aren't sufficient to determine pro-social behaviors! A moderated mediation framework tested in healthcare settings based on Belief in Self-Determinism (BSD) Theory
title_full_unstemmed Mere moral beliefs aren't sufficient to determine pro-social behaviors! A moderated mediation framework tested in healthcare settings based on Belief in Self-Determinism (BSD) Theory
title_short Mere moral beliefs aren't sufficient to determine pro-social behaviors! A moderated mediation framework tested in healthcare settings based on Belief in Self-Determinism (BSD) Theory
title_sort mere moral beliefs aren t sufficient to determine pro social behaviors a moderated mediation framework tested in healthcare settings based on belief in self determinism bsd theory
topic Moral conviction
Moral courage
Pro-social rule breaking
Professional experience
Morality
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825000769
work_keys_str_mv AT muhammadaliasadullah meremoralbeliefsarentsufficienttodetermineprosocialbehaviorsamoderatedmediationframeworktestedinhealthcaresettingsbasedonbeliefinselfdeterminismbsdtheory
AT tabassumiqbal meremoralbeliefsarentsufficienttodetermineprosocialbehaviorsamoderatedmediationframeworktestedinhealthcaresettingsbasedonbeliefinselfdeterminismbsdtheory
AT alihajkhalifa meremoralbeliefsarentsufficienttodetermineprosocialbehaviorsamoderatedmediationframeworktestedinhealthcaresettingsbasedonbeliefinselfdeterminismbsdtheory
AT sajidhaider meremoralbeliefsarentsufficienttodetermineprosocialbehaviorsamoderatedmediationframeworktestedinhealthcaresettingsbasedonbeliefinselfdeterminismbsdtheory