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Moral subjectivity (e.g., reflexivity, perspective-taking) is a necessary condition for moral development. However, widely used approaches to business ethics education, rooted in conceptualizations of ethical development as objective and quantifiable, often neglect stu- dents’ subjective involvement in moral matters. In this case study, we investigated subjec- tive aspects of moral development of MBA students in a business ethics course using an alternative pedagogy based on world literature as course material. The findings eluci- dated that the use of literary narratives stimulated the development of “moral muscle,” a dynamic moral capability that needs to be developed through regular reflection and prac- tice. Additionally, the development of moral muscle during the course showed heteroge- neity among students with different starting positions, learning routes, and end states of their moral development. The findings contribute to a new theoretical understanding of moral development as a dynamic process—as moral muscle—with different individual change trajectories, and shed new light on how the use of literary narratives in business ethics education can stimulate this development. more...

Human beings are storytellers. People listen, read, watch, and create narratives on a daily basis. This PhD dissertation explores the relationship between people’s fictional narrative experiences – for example reading a novel, or watching a movie - and their personal development in the context of work. While being absorbed into a story world and seeing that world through the eyes of a character, people could explore different careers, work selves and moral perspectives. Consequently, fictional narratives could encourage people to reflect on their identity, on who they currently are; stimulate people to think about who they aspire to become in the future; and, ultimately, inspire people to reflect on what type of person they think they ought to be, by reflecting on their moral character. Narrative templates in novels, movies and television seriescould thereby offer people inspiration for the construction of their own personal career narrative. Due to the novelty of the current research topic, the research approach of this dissertation is diverse, using various research designs (qualitative, quantitative, retrospective, and experimental) with several methodological approaches, and a variety of participant samples. The findings shed new light on the way books, short stories, movies and television series can influence people’s career identity, future work selves and moral development in thecontext of work. more...

Fictional narratives have the potential to influence people who read, view or listen to them. A body of studies has found that stories can change people’s identity or sense of self. This chapter proposes a theoretical model conceptualizing the impact of fictional narrative experiences on the dialogical self. Three pathways are proposed through which stories influence identity: a personal pathway (through fictional role models and possible selves), a cultural pathway (by offering narrative themes and structures used in interpersonal and intrapersonal self-dialogue) and a reflective pathway (when stories increase self-awareness and help people to adopt or switch between alternative selves or I-positions). The objective of this chapter is to introduce a new model to explain the impact of narrative fiction on the self, grounded in Dialogical Self Theory, which can shed a new light on the processes that underlie this impact. more...

Fictional narratives have the potential to influence people who read, view or listen to them. A body of studies has found that stories can change people’s identity or sense of self. This chapter proposes a theoretical model conceptualizing the impact of fictional narrative experiences on the dialogical self. Three pathways are proposed through which stories influence identity: a personal pathway (through fictional role models and possible selves), a cultural pathway (by offering narrative themes and structures used in interpersonal and intrapersonal self-dialogue) and a reflective pathway (when stories increase self-awareness and help people to adopt or switch between alternative selves or I-positions). The objective of this chapter is to introduce a new model to explain the impact of narrative fiction on the self, grounded in Dialogical Self Theory, which can shed a new light on the processes that underlie this impact. more...