Measuring moral imagination

Abstract

This study describes the development of a moral imagination (MI) scale. The data were obtained from 491 participants from various organizations. A29-item Likert-type scale of moral imagination was constructed and shown to be free of socially desirable responses. Analyses of moral imagination suggest that three facets of moral imagination can be distinguished empirically as well as theoretically, namely reproductive, creative, and productive. Construct validity was evaluated by expert judges and, overall, was high. Validation data also included correlation with peer ratings. Furthermore, to explore the relation between moral imagination and actual behavior, a case study was conducted in which participants were asked questions to measure their capacity for moral imagination. The subjects who scored high on MI were judged to have a greater capacity than were the subjects who scored low. Empirically, the MI scale was shown to correlate with an internal locus of control, tolerance of ambiguity and empathy. This scale also correlated negatively with Machiavellianism.