With the continuing globalization of business, ethical considerations have become increasingly important, and will continue to do so. Multinational organizations are, by their nature, only partly bound by national and international laws, leaving a significant component of major decisions to the discretion of the decision makers. The present paper reports the results of a vignette- and questionnaire-based research project investigating the influence and components of issue-related "ethical heat" on decision making in a business context. The results of a mail survey sent to New Zealand businesses indicated that three of six theoretical components were of particular importance in accounting for a relatively large proportion of the variation in four outcome variables. There were no interactions of appreciable magnitude between the components, or variations across scenarios. The survey was also posted on the World Wide Web, and invitations to participate sent to a random sample of web citizens across the world. Responses from around 40 countries yielded a virtually identical response pattern, but the proportion of the variation in the outcome variables was comparatively smaller. Implications of the findings, as well as methodological considerations, are discussed.