Compensatory ethics

Chen Bo Zhong; Gillian Ku; Robert B. Lount; J. Keith Murnighan

doi:10.1007/s10551-009-0161-6

Compensatory ethics

Chen Bo Zhong, Gillian Ku, Robert B. Lount, J. Keith Murnighan

Management and Organizations

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

114 Scopus citations

Abstract

Several theories, both ancient and recent, suggest that having the time to contemplate a decision should increase moral awareness and the likelihood of ethical choices. Our findings indicated just the opposite: greater time for deliberation led to less ethical decisions. Post-hoc analyses and a followup experiment suggested that decision makers act as if their previous choices have created or lost moral credentials: after an ethical first choice, people acted significantly less ethically in their subsequent choice but after an unethical first choice, people acted significantly more ethically in their subsequent choice. These findings provide the basis for a model of compensatory ethics.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	323-339
Number of pages	17
Journal	Journal of Business Ethics
Volume	92
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0161-6
State	Published - Mar 1 2010

Keywords

Compensatory
Decision making
Equilibrium
Ethics
Moral awareness

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Business and International Management
General Business, Management and Accounting
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Economics and Econometrics
Law

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AB - Several theories, both ancient and recent, suggest that having the time to contemplate a decision should increase moral awareness and the likelihood of ethical choices. Our findings indicated just the opposite: greater time for deliberation led to less ethical decisions. Post-hoc analyses and a followup experiment suggested that decision makers act as if their previous choices have created or lost moral credentials: after an ethical first choice, people acted significantly less ethically in their subsequent choice but after an unethical first choice, people acted significantly more ethically in their subsequent choice. These findings provide the basis for a model of compensatory ethics.

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KW - Equilibrium

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Compensatory ethics

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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