AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON CIVIL ENGINEERING ETHICS BASED ON THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

The influences of differences in possibilities of interpretation in code of ethics on ethical levels of civil engineers

Abstract

  This paper investigated the impacts of code of ethics on ethical levels of civil engineers based on Kohlberg's theory of moral development. It was hypothesized that maintaining possibilities of interpretation in code of ethics might enhance ethical levels of civil engineers. To test this hypothesis, we conducted an experiment targeting civil engineers (N=396) and investigated the influence of differences in possibilities of interpretation in code of ethics on ethical levels of civil engineers. The obtained data statistically supported the hypothesis, and it was indicated that civil engineers who read through code of ethics with possibility of interpretation have a tendency to enhance their ethical levels. In addition, it was shown that the effect of possibilities of interpretation depends on experiences of reading current code of ethics and experiences of ethical problems.