Table 2.

Interview guide – Main topics

Starting questions

Can you recall a very difficult ethical dilemma/conflict/contradiction that you have experienced in your professional life as a health care manager?

Can you describe the situation in detail? What happened exactly?

Why was it so difficult?

How did you deal with it?

Was a solution possible? How did you come to it? If not, what did you do?

Why was that a striking example of an ethical dilemma to you?

Ethical Values

What does ethics mean to you?

How is it present in your job as health care manager?

Which values are inspiring to you?

Which values function as an ethical compass in your job? Why?

What, according to your experience, does ethics have to do with health care?

What, according to your experience, are the most difficult or challenging ethical dilemmas in health care management?

Ethical experience

Which ethical experience/situation (within you job) has most significantly remained in your memory until now?

Can you describe it? What happened?

What exactly made this experience positive/inspiring or negative/difficult?

Why is it this ethical experience that remained most in your memory?

Role Model

Who has been your ethical example?

Who has been a clear role model in your professional life?

Can you describe why?