Judgment of the morality of an individual responsible for a fatal workplace accident involving subordinates

Abstract

Background: The aim of the study was to verify the hypothesis that additional information about the perpetrator responsible for the death of subordinates at the workplace may influence the assessment of their morality. The article contains the results of an empirical study conducted among young adult working Silesians (N = 262), who were asked to evaluate the morality of the person responsible for the decision in line with which miners starter working on 6th October 2014. On that day miners died following an explosion in the "Myslowice-Wesola" methane mine in the Polish Silesia region. Material and Methods: The study explorer the stories’ method (form the moral psychology domain) as well as a short questionnaire. The respondents received information about the behavior of the perpetrator, as well as their emotions (socially desirable and undesirable) and their (socially desirable and undesirable) views in the form of brief descriptions (stories). They were asked to evaluate the perpetrator's morality. Results: The socially desirable views of the evaluated perpetrator (lack of acceptance for the situation) and the socially desirable emotions (guilt) significantly increased the level of their morality according to participants. A single piece of information about the socially desirable emotions didn’t significantly increase the perceived level of perpetrator’s morality; neither did a single piece of information about their socially desirable views. Conclusions: Results indicate the important role of additional information about emotions and views of the perpetrator in the process of assessing their morality. It is worthwhile to implement the practical implications of this study in similar crisis situations at the workplace.