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This summer, CEOs, strategists and creative teams have been sweating over more than the heat.

After shifting their messaging last spring to address the global coronavirus outbreak, companies are now grappling with a national鈥撯�揳nd international鈥撯�搊utcry over issues of persistent and systemic racism, not just in our criminal justice system but in all areas of society.听

Increasingly, many of the world鈥檚 biggest brands are being tested by their moral backbone. Watchful consumers are refusing to support companies who turn a blind eye, or to accept empty hashtags and false promises as progress. And by harnessing the power of social media, they鈥檙e able to hold organizations immediately and visibly accountable.

鈥淣o longer will people let brands stay silent. They have a platform and a network to people. They have clout and a reputation among these people. And they have financial resources,鈥� said Erin Schauster, an assistant professor in the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design at CU Boulder鈥檚 College of Media, Communication and Information (CMCI).听 鈥淐onsumers demand that they take a stand, and we want them to engage in a high level of moral reasoning to do it well鈥撯�搕o have the most positive influence that they can have.鈥澨�

Schauster is a co-author of the new study, along with Patrick Ferrucci, associate professor in CMCI鈥檚 Department of Journalism, Edson Tandoc, associate professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and Tara Walker, who earned her PhD from CMCI鈥檚 Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design in the spring of 2020. The study is the second in a three-part series examining how media practitioners in journalism, advertising and public relations rate in terms of moral reasoning. The series will soon be accompanied by a fourth, overarching study examining how moral reasoning compared across the three fields.听

The good news for advertising: researchers found that today鈥檚 practitioners are engaging in a significantly higher rate of moral reasoning than those previously tested.

鈥淲e found that, overall, the reasoning increased since the last time it was tested in 2005. Great news, frankly, and I would kind of expect that based on practices in advertising today,鈥� Schauster said. 鈥淲e see more socially responsible practices like corporate social responsibility and brands鈥撯�搇ike we're seeing right now with the racial injustice鈥撯�揺ngaging in what's called brand activism and taking a political stand.鈥�

Each of the 134 advertising professionals who participated in the online experiment were given the Defining Issues Test (DIT)鈥撯�揳 widely-used measurement in the field of moral psychology鈥撯�揳nd assessed in the form of a P-score, with a higher P-score indicated that practitioners engaged in higher levels of moral reasoning more often. Recent participants earned an average P-score of 39.27, compared with participants from a 2005 study who earned an average P-score of 31.64.听

In addition to comparing how overall scores have changed, the researchers tested advertising practitioners to find out whether or not鈥撯�揳nd to what extent鈥撯�搕heir professional identities influenced their level of moral reasoning.听

Each participant was prompted with a set of moral dilemmas鈥撯�搒ome that were media specific, and others that were just about 鈥渓ife things,鈥� Schauster said. Those who were primed received prompts beginning with the phrase, 鈥渁s an advertising practitioner...鈥� leading them to consider their professional identities while forming a response.听

Primed individuals tended to score a bit lower, but the difference wasn鈥檛 significant, the study found. When examining these results based on participants鈥� gender identification, however, the researchers noticed a surprise twist: While primed women scored lower on moral reasoning than unprimed women, primed men showed a different pattern.

鈥淲hen they were asked to think like an advertising practitioner, their moral reasoning scores went up, and that's not what we would expect,鈥� Schauster said. 鈥淲e would expect anyone鈥撯�搘hen thinking like an advertising practitioner鈥撯�搕heir moral reasoning to go down, because that's what the 2005 study found.

One explanation for the variance could be a discrepancy in training and resources, she said.听

鈥淭hat's really what's interesting about this study and we do attribute that to socialization,鈥� Schauster said. 鈥淚f you look at the information on advertising industry makeup, those in leadership positions are typically men. Well, those in leadership positions also have access to different resources. And we would assume that some of those resources are impactful ethics training.鈥澨�

While lower-level practitioners may receive some ethics training, researchers suspect that the variance could point to a need for more effective training and resources at all levels of the field.

鈥淓thics training is being done, but is it, is it influential? Is it effective?" If we don't know what's effective, then it's just this meaningless task that businesses are wasting resources on,鈥� Schauster said.听

Already, results from the advertising study, compared with the team鈥檚 2019 study, and a 2020 study, ",鈥� hint at the way the media landscape has evolved since 2005.

Previously, journalists have scored the highest on moral reasoning, with advertisers scoring the lowest and PR practitioners scoring somewhere in the middle. While that trend seems to have continued鈥撯�搘ith journalists scoring higher than advertisers in recent studies鈥撯�搕here also seems to be a leveling-out among the fields.听

Ultimately, though, far more research is needed in order for researchers to understand the broader picture, Schauster said.

鈥淲e don't need to just revamp ethics training for it to be influential. We need to understand how ethics training works. And that requires more research, too.鈥�

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