Predicting moral behavior based on psychological well-being and attitude to time: The mediating role of the self-transcendence and fundamental values

This study aimed to predict moral behavior based on psychological well-being and attitude to time, considering the mediating role of self-transcendence and fundamental values.

The statistical population of this descriptive and correlational study consisted of all students of Bu-Ali Sina University in Hamadan-Iran in the 2018-2019 academic year. The sample size was 372 students selected by the convenenient sampling method. The instruments included Psychological Well-being (Diener et al., 1985), Attitude to Time (Mello and Worrell, 2010), Self-transcendence (Levinson et al., 2005), Researcher-Made Scale of Moral Behavior, and Fundamental Values Scale (Jason et al., 2001). Data were analyzed by path analysis using SPSS-25 and LISREL.

The results indicated that the proposed model has a good fitness with the empirical data (GFI= 0.95, IFI= 0.98, CFI= 0.95). The results showed that self-transcendence and fundamental values significantly mediate the relationship between moral behavior, psychological well-being, and attitude to time (P< 0.01). Attitude to time and psychological well-being significantly affect moral behavior by mediating self-transcendence and fundamental values.

Based on the findings of this research, the probability of performing moral behavior by people with psychological well-being and positive attitude to time can be predicted when people have fundamental values and gain knowledge about them. It is also necessary that these people have reached a level of self-transcendence. Value and self-transcendence connect moral behavior with psychological well-being and attitude to time and facilitate the possibility of moral behavior in social situations.