Association Between Personal and Professional Values

Abstract

Empirical evidence indicates that individuals do not always respond to an ethical dilemma in a professional setting in a manner consistent with the principles of the value system used to make moral decisions in personal settings. A study was undertaken to evaluate the degree of association between personal and professional value decision‐making. Responses from 21 individuals to case studies involving value conflicts were evaluated and subjected to correlation analyses. The results indicate that a strong correlation exists; however, eight of the 21 individuals showed some difference in value decision‐making capability when responding to value conflicts in personal and professional settings. The implications of the results to engineering education are examined.