Conscience

Conscience is related to the human soul containing both malicious and tranquillity (Picken, 2005). Lawrence and Curlin (2007) point out that definitions of the conscience differ between Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) and those stemming from a secular moral tradition. In each of the Abrahamic religions, right and wrong are divinely established categories, where the conscience enables a person to

103 discern. Within Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, the conscience may be understood as enabling moral agents to know whether an act conforms to the divine law, that is, to God’s standard of right and wrong. Mhd Sarif and Ismail (2011) suggest that from the Islamic perspective the role of conscience and intention are crucial in ethical decision-making. The scholars define conscience as a reflection of the sensitivity a person has towards the situation he or she is facing, and his/her environment. This sensitivity originates from the soul and heart; whereby deep conscience would cause a person to reflect before making a decision by considering its consequences towards other people.

The revelation from God is a divine refinement of one’s conscience. According to Lewis (1965), it is through revelation that moral insight is refined expressively for God, and by which humans come to recognise His dealings with them. Rizk (2008) echoed that in Islam, an individual’s own conscience guides Muslim ethics when the path has not been clarified by the Qur’an, Sunnah and religious scholars. Taken together, in relation to the first research objective (outlined in Section 1.2), hypothesis H6a was constructed and illustrated in Figure 3-11.

H6a: Islamic religiosity has a direct relationship with conscience.

Figure 3-11 Diagram that illustrates the relationship testing for H6a.

Laible, Eye, and Carlo (2008) acknowledge that conscience is a complex and multifaceted construct and likely includes a number of skills, moral emotions (such as guilt, shame and

104 empathy), internal regulators of behaviour, and, moral reasoning. Guilt is conceived as a more private experience arising from self-generated conscience (Garrett, 2014). This is supported by Johnson et al. (1987), who posit that guilt is a private experience that does not involve other people or what they might think. According to Goetz and Keltner (2007), the antecedents of guilt involve direct harm to another, brought about by lying, cheating, neglecting another, failing to reciprocate, overt hostility, infidelity, or not helping others. Therefore, guilt’s primary elicitor is self-perception of responsibility for an untoward outcome or state of affairs, which can be due to insufficient effort on part of the individual (Ferguson, Brugman, White, & Eyre, 2007).

Tilghman-Osborne, Cole, and Felton’s (2010) analysis of 23 definitions of guilt found that most theoreticians agree that guilt has moral implications in which one is troubled by a transgression that violate one’s sense of right and wrong. Most definitions agree that guilt involves moral transgression. Guilt serves as infused signals to reconsider one’s wrongdoing or failures in light of cherished values and standards of effort (Ferguson et al., 2007). According to Tangney, Stuewig, and Mashek (2007), even actual behaviour might not be necessary for moral emotions to have effect. People can anticipate their likely emotional reactions (e.g. guilt vs. pride/self-approval) as they consider behavioural alternatives. Thus, self-conscious moral emotions can exert a strong influence on moral choice and behaviour by providing critical feedback regarding anticipated behaviour. Steenhaut and Kenhove’s (2006) study in consumer ethical decision-making found that even consumers who do perceive certain unethical actions as appropriate, might be motivated to do the right thing due to anticipated guilt. The study by Steenhaut and Kenhove (2006) deepened the model by Hunt and Vitell (1986), that was previously discussed, by establishing the notion of anticipated guilt as an integral part of consumers’

105 ethical decision-making process. The H-V model posits that, when behaviour and intentions are inconsistent with ethical judgments, one of the consequences will be feelings of guilt.

In fact, conscience is often operationalised as some combination of guilt-related affect, an orientation toward reparation, and internalised compliance. Further, Baron (1992) proposes that anticipated guilt is driven partly by moral belief. In a study of guilt among Muslims, Abu-Hilal, Al-Bahrani, and Al-Zedjali (2017) found that religiousness is an important predictor of the sense of meaning in life for college students in Oman. Feeling guilty due to sins may occur to a Muslim when the Muslim does not abide by God’s rules, in addition to the perceived punishment in this life or hereafter. The result is a lack of meaning in life that leads to stress and anxiety. Good actions are important because they establish a good relationship with God. The scholars found that Muslim Omani college students who scored high on guilt also scored high on religiousness; and seeking forgiveness from God to resolve the sense of guilt is still within the program of faith even if minor and occasional deviations from the rules of God may happen. This is how conscience (and specifically guilt) connects the religiosity construct with ethical intention. Therefore, to address the second research objective (outlined in Section 1.2), this thesis predisposes that:

H6b: Conscience mediates the relationship between Islamic religiosity and ethical intention.

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Figure 3-12 Diagram that illustrates the relationship testing for H6b.

3.5. Summary

This chapter has conceptualised religiosity and five mediating variables (PIE, moral judgment, ego strength, intention and conscience), while treating ethical intention as a dependent variable that closely predicts ethical behaviour. Eleven hypotheses have been formulated to be tested in this thesis. While some relationships that are being investigated have some precedent in ethical decision-making studies, the literature on the effects of intention and conscience in ethical decision-making is scarce. Table 3-1 lists the variables under study in this thesis. The following chapter discusses the research methodology for the study.

Table 3-1 List of variables investigated in this thesis.

Independent variable Islamic religiosity Mediating variables PIE Moral judgment Ego strength Intention Conscience Dependent variable Ethical intention

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