The limits to moral erosion in markets: Social norms and the replacement excuse

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bartling, Bjorn; Ozdemir, Yagiz
• 署名单位: University of Zurich
• 刊物名称: GAMES AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0899-8256
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2022.12.001
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 143-160
• 关键词: Replacement excuse; social norms; Moral behavior; COMPETITION; MARKETS; Utilitarianism; Deontological ethics

摘要

This paper studies the impact of a key feature of competitive markets on moral behavior: the possibility that a competitor might step in and conclude the deal if a conscientious market actor forgoes a profitable business opportunity for ethical reasons. In a series of experiments, we study whether people invoke the replacement excuse, that is, the argument if I don't do it, someone else will, to justify narrowly self-interested actions. Our data are consistent with the possibility that the existence of a clear social norm of moral conduct can limit the impact of the availability of the replacement excuse on behavior.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).