Abstract: Factors Influencing the Unethical Behavior of Business People

Abstract

Corporate unethical behavior is nothing new. We are constantly bombarded with stories of managers engaging in illegal or unethical behavior. What is unknown are the reasons behind such behavior. Building upon Tenbrunsel and Messick's (1999) work on ethical framing we investigate the boundary conditions on how we look at ethical decisions. Through a qualitative and quantitative study, we propose that when managers are put into a business frame, they are more likely to solve problems without an ethical view and thus engage in unethical behavior. More importantly, when we extend the business frame from a short-term to a longterm focus, we expect that business decisions would be more ethical. Further, how ethical the corporate culture is would moderate our decisions. Results indicate that ethical framing of problems do result in ethical outcomes, and that a corporate culture helps. However, the role of a strategic short-term and long-term frame is less understood, with managers using short-term business frames exhibiting more unethical behaviors, while long-term business frames are inconsistent in relation to short-term or ethical frames.References Available Upon Request.

A phenomenographic study of scientists’ beliefs about the causes of scientists’ research misconduct

“…Consider the importance that our participants placed on individual character traits as a cause of unethical behavior. Most studies on the causes of unethical behavior cite individual factors (Belle and Cantarelli, 2017;Boes et al, 2017;DuBois et al, 2013;Kornfeld, 2012;Sovacool, 2008). Often, these are described as classical character flaws: "greed, egocentrism, self-justification" (Belle and Cantarelli, 2017), or "a self-centered personality" (DuBois et al, 2013).…”

“…The existing research on why people fail to act ethically identifies a range of contributors, including: pressure (Belle and Cantarelli, 2017;Davis et al, 2007: 200;Kornfeld, 2012;Sovacool, 2008), gain (Belle andCantarelli, 2017;Boes et al, 2017), mental/emotional state (Davis et al, 2007), character (Belle and Cantarelli, 2017;DuBois and Antes, 2018;Kornfeld, 2012;Ruiz-Palomino and Linuesa-Langreo, 2018;Sovacool, 2008), loss aversion (Belle and Cantarelli, 2017), health/ family trouble (Davis et al, 2007), relationships (Davis et al, 2007), competition (Boes et al, 2017), opportunity (Adams and Pimple, 2005), and cultural factors (Davis et al, 2007). These studies do not indicate which factors are most likely, only that they are factors in causing unethical behavior.…”

“…Unethical behavior happens in other research fields besides STEM. In a study about unethical behavior in business, Boes et al (2017) concluded that competition and monetary gain are main influences on unethical behavior in business transactions, and that having a business frame of mind as opposed to an ethical frame of mind makes a significant difference in ethical behavior. Another study into unethical behavior in business involved the development of a taxonomy of why unethical acts occur in business school research (Hall and Martin, 2019).…”

Promoting quality education by addressing ethical challenges in high school football at circuit level in Durban, South Africa

“…Sponsoring of major sporting contests and the competitive nature of winning may lead to unethical practices (Ionescu, 2015). Cooper and Frank (1991), as cited in Boes (2015), identify the following factors as influencing unethical behaviour: one's personal moral values and standards; family and friends who provide support and insight in relation to resolving ethical issues; leaders who pressurise employees to compromise ethical standards; an environment/culture that controls the pressure to compromise ethical values to achieve organisational goals; and an organisational leadership philosophy that emphasises ethics within operations. However, O'Fallon and Butterfield (2012) found that peer influence plays a major role in influencing ethical decision-making.…”

“…The more individuals observe their peers engaging in unethical behaviour, the more likely they are to engage in the same or similar activities. Boes (2015) states that if an individual believes that others are behaving unethically, http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38i1.12 then that individual will feel more inclined to behave unethically (like inverse peer pressure). Thus, there is a strong relationship between one's behaviour and one's expectation of others.…”