Axiology, personal values and ethical rationalities: a proposal for theoretical frameworks integration

Abstract

Ethics and personal values are two important theories that underlie management studies that analyze behaviors and decision-making processes. However, the relationship between these two themes is incipient and calls for in-depth investigation, mainly empirical studies. The present study aims at verifying the existence of relationships between personal values (Schwartz, 1992; Schwartz et al., 2012) and the ethical deontological and teleological rationalities. A survey into this issue was conducted with a sample of 453 Brazilian respondents. Consistent with the postulated hypotheses, the results showed that all individualistic-oriented values are positively related to teleological rationalities, just as all collectivist-oriented values are affirmatively related to deontological rationalities, except for the Tradition value. Empirical confirmation of the relationship between ethics and personal values answer the author`s claims on the topic and allows the extension of analyzes of social phenomena supported by such theories.