When are people more open to cheating? Economic inequality makes people expect more everyday unethical behavior

Abstract

Economic inequality has been found to be associated with increased unethical behavior and an increased acceptance of unethical behavior. In this paper we explored whether higher amounts of perceived inequality lead to an increase in the expectation of unethical behavior. We tested whether people would say that they themselves would engage in more unethical behavior in a context of high compared to low inequality. We find evidence for this hypothesis in 3 of 4 studies (n = 3,038). An internal meta-analysis shows a small but significant effect. Such increased expectations that oneself will behave unethically likely has consequences for societal trust and functioning.