RT Article
T1 Assertiveness Bias in Gender Ethics Research: Why Women Deserve the Benefit of the Doubt
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 150
IS 3
SP 727
OP 739
A1 Bossuyt, Saar
A2 Van Kenhove, Patrick
LA English
YR 2018
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1785665057
AB Gender is one of the most researched and contentious topics in consumer ethics research. It is common for researchers of gender studies to presume that women are more ethical than men because of their reputation for having a selfless, sensitive nature. Nevertheless, we found evidence that women behaved less ethically than men in two field experiments testing a passive form of unethical behavior. Women benefited to a larger extent from a cashier miscalculating the bill in their favor than men. However, in three follow-up studies, we found that women did not necessarily intend to benefit at the expense of someone else. Women are less prone to speak up to a cashier than men are, even when the mistake is made in their disfavor. These results reveal that gender differences in assertiveness affect differences in unethical behavior.
K1 Unethical consumer behavior
K1 Social desirability bias
K1 gender ethics
K1 gender differences
K1 Consumer ethics
K1 Behavioral experiments
K1 Assertiveness
DO 10.1007/s10551-016-3026-9