CONSCIENCE WITHOUT COGNITION: THE EFFECTS OF SUBCONSCIOUS PRIMING ON ETHICAL BEHAVIOR

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Welsh, David T.; Ordonez, Lisa D.
• 署名单位: University of Washington; University of Washington Seattle; University of Arizona
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2011.1009
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 723-742
• 关键词: DECISION-MAKING; dark side; goals; self; ORGANIZATIONS; MODEL; performance; validity

摘要

Research in the field of behavioral ethics has traditionally viewed ethical decision making as rational and deliberate. However, some recent research has proposed a dual process model of ethical decision making that has both conscious and subconscious components (Reynolds, 2006). We extend current theory by using subconscious ethical and unethical priming to test the effects of subconscious processes on ethical behavior through an automatic process of schema activation and implicit association. Studies 1 and 2 extend self-concept maintenance theory (Mazar, Amir, & Ariely, 2008) by exploring the mediated process through which subconscious ethical and unethical primes trigger the activation of moral standards, thereby influencing categorization and subsequent responses to morally ambiguous situations. Study 3 demonstrates that both subconscious ethical and unethical priming reduce dishonesty even when participants are unmonitored and are given difficult performance goals that previously have been shown to lead to unethical behavior.