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Moral Agency Development as a Community-Supported Process: An Analysis of Hospitals’ Middle Management Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Gry Espedal

    (VID Specialized University)

  • Marta Struminska-Kutra

    (VID Specialized University)

  • Danielle Wagenheim

    (VID Specialized University)

  • Kari Jakobsen Husa

    (VID Specialized University)

Abstract

This paper investigates the process of moral agency development as a community-supported process. Based on a multimethod qualitative inquiry, including diaries, focus groups, and documentary analysis, we analyze the experiences of middle managers in two Norwegian hospitals during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that moral agency is developed through a community-embedded value inquiry, emerging in three partially overlapping steps. The first step is marked by moral reflex, an intuitive, value-driven, pre-reflective response to a crisis situation. In the second step, the managers involved the community in value calibration, a collective-ethical sensemaking. In the third step, they took active stances to translate values into actions, with an increased awareness of values and an ability to explain and justify their actions. We label the steps, respectively: value inquiry-in-action, value inquiry-on-action and reflective enactment of value. An analysis of the process reveals two aspects critical for moral agency development: it happens through confrontation with uncertainty, and it is relational, that is, embedded in a community. While uncertainty forces an intuitive moral response, dialogical reflection in the community develops value awareness and relationships of mutual care and support.

Suggested Citation

  • Gry Espedal & Marta Struminska-Kutra & Danielle Wagenheim & Kari Jakobsen Husa, 2024. "Moral Agency Development as a Community-Supported Process: An Analysis of Hospitals’ Middle Management Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(3), pages 685-699, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:190:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-023-05441-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05441-w
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Marlys K. Christianson & Michelle A. Barton, 2021. "Sensemaking in the Time of COVID‐19," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 572-576, March.
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