Moral compass framework: Individual and collective decision-making in some complex doctoral education scenarios

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is as follows: locate our moral compass framework (Bowden and Green, 2014) within the moral development literature; demonstrate how the framework can be used to analyse complex system-wide problems; and propose change in doctoral education.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper shows the analysis of transcripts of 50 interviews with doctoral students and supervisors. Four scenarios, each a composite derived primarily from the interview data, were analysed using the framework, complemented by reference to the moral development literature.

Findings

The structure of the framework and meaning of the constructs’ collective morality, moral advocacy and moral mediation are elaborated and further explained through the analysis of the four scenarios, showing how the framework can contribute to resolution of complex system-wide problems and how they facilitate moral development within a multi-level system. Six proposals for change in the doctoral education system, at the individual, organisational and national levels, are derived from those analyses.

Originality/value

The use of our moral compass framework to analyse the four scenarios demonstrates its applicability to real situations and its complementarity with the moral development literature. The paper also shows that the framework is more powerful and of broader impact than the moral development models published to date. The changes proposed for the doctoral education system, based on the moral compass framework and its application to the four scenarios, have the potential to change practice in ways that benefit everyone involved in the system – candidates, supervisors, management and government personnel.

Citation

Green, P. and Bowden, J.A. (2015), "Moral compass framework: Individual and collective decision-making in some complex doctoral education scenarios", International Journal for Researcher Development, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 9-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRD-07-2014-0016