Abstract: Some issues of behavioral cross-cultural ethics are debated in this text. Dyads “being us /Same/ – strange”, “ours – other” are described as social constructions in their ethical sense. Cultural diversity is an essential characteristic of global digitalized world. It can be analyzed in different terms. Whether cultural diversity is an ethical diversity too – that is the key issue analyzed in this paper. Тhe need for behavioral cross-cultural organizational ethics is justified in this context. Two new constructs of moral grounds and moral domain are described in cross-cultural perspective. Specifically, the mechanism of moral exclusion is revealed – the rejection of the “foreign” /other/ in the community. It is explained what is minimalism and maximalism in ethical communication by using terms from international business ethics. It is shown how the relevant concepts of social psychology and cultural anthropology can be productive for better understanding and managing cross-cultural business ethics. Conclusively, the study reaffirmed, that Western concept of autonomy of individual has kept its power of regulative idea in cross-cultural ethics too. It gives the opportunity to navigate in the field between ethical imperialism and cultural relativism in science and everyday experience.
Keywords: cross-cultural ethics, cultural differences, moral ground, moral domain, moral exclusion, cross-cultural business communication.
Rhetoric and Communications E-journal, Issue 21, January 2016, rhetoric.bg/, journal.rhetoric.bg, ISSN 1314-4464