Emotional intelligence & ethical decision making in hunting tourism: a virtue based approach

ABSTRACT

Recent research has indicated that hunting tourism is growing and that hunters tend to act more unethically when hunting as tourists. Informed by an Aristotelian Virtue-Ethics theoretical framework, the researchers propose and test a link between emotional intelligence and ethical decision-making. Specifically, survey-based research tests the relationship between emotional intelligence and ethical decision-making by measuring a hunter's perception of ethical behaviour of self. The multiple regression findings support a relationship between emotional intelligence and ethical decision-making. The proposed theoretical framework and results should inform the development of new evidence and theory-based hunter-education platforms. The framework and results should also provide novel theoretical and evidence-based grounds to study further and enhance the hunting tourism industry.

KEYWORDS:

• Hunting tourism
• Aristotelian Virtue Ethics
• ethical decision making
• emotional intelligence
• hunter education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For a comprehensive exposition of the modern understanding of biological function, see Jeffre Godofrey Godfrey-Smith, 2009.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Margaret C. Keiper

Margaret Keiper, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Northwood University, Midland, USA. Her research expertise includes hunting ethics, psychometric measures, and sport/recreation business.

Eduardo Wilner

Eduardo Wilner, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and Philosophy Programme Chair with a Joint teaching appointment in Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Dr. Wilner’s expertise is in the philosophy of science.