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Humanitarian aid professionals frequently encounter situations in which one is conscious of the morally appropriate action but cannot take it because of institutional obstacles. Dilemmas like this are likely to result in a specific kind of stress reaction at the individual level, labeled as moral stress. In our study, 16 individuals working with international humanitarian aid and rescue operations participated in semistructured interviews, analyzed in accordance with a grounded theory approach. A theoretical model of ethical decision making from a moral stress perspective was developed. The practical implications of the study are discussed.

Purpose – The aim of this article is twofold: validation of a theoretical model of a civil contingencies agency management system, and methodological development by employing qualitative means for analysis.

Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical model to be validated serves as a starting point for a qualitative reanalysis of logic-deductive character, aimed at verification of the pre-existing theory that is already discovered and developed. Data from three previously published case studies were used as a frame of reference.

Findings – The theoretical model of a civil contingencies management system for disaster aid is validated in most respects. The qualitative testing for high trustworthiness proves reasonable with regard to selected reference studies.

Originality/value – The theoretical model of a civil contingencies agency management system for disaster aid was mostly confirmed and partly modified when being compared to empirical data and models from three previous case studies. Also, the qualitative approach to validating the theoretical model is, to the best knowledge of the authors, new.