Lying to Level the Playing Field: Why People May Dishonestly Help or Hurt Others to Create Equity

Unethical and dishonest behavior has increasingly attracted the attention of scholars from various disciplines. Recent work has begun to focus on a previous overlooked factor predicting dishonest behavior: the beneficiary or victim of dishonest acts. In two laboratory experiments, we manipulate the...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Gino, Francesca (Author) ; Pierce, Lamar (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer 2010
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2010, Volume: 95, Issue: 1, Pages: 89-103
Further subjects:B Ethics
B Unethical Behavior
B Equity
B Self-interest
B Judgment
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Unethical and dishonest behavior has increasingly attracted the attention of scholars from various disciplines. Recent work has begun to focus on a previous overlooked factor predicting dishonest behavior: the beneficiary or victim of dishonest acts. In two laboratory experiments, we manipulate the level of resources allocated to our participants (their “wealth”) and investigate whether perceived inequity from wealth that is randomly or subjectively assigned leads individuals to cross ethical boundaries through helping or hurting others. The results show that dishonest behavior is influenced by positive and negative inequity that motivates helping and hurting acts. Furthermore, a third experiment shows that people tend to discount the wrongness of crossing ethical boundaries to hurt or help others when the action restores equity.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10551-011-0792-2