Automatic Ethics: The Effects of Implicit Assumptions and Contextual Cues on Moral Behavior

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Reynolds, Scott J.; Leavitt, Keith; DeCelles, Katherine A.
• 署名单位: University of Washington; University of Washington Seattle; United States Department of Defense; United States Army; United States Military Academy; University of Toronto
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/a0019411
• 发表日期: 2010
• 页码: 752-760
• 关键词: automatic social cognition; moral decision making; Moral behavior

摘要

We empirically examine the reflexive or automatic aspects of moral decision making. To begin, we develop and validate a measure of an individual's implicit assumption regarding the inherent morality of business. Then, using an in-basket exercise, we demonstrate that an implicit assumption that business is inherently moral impacts day-to-day business decisions and interacts with contextual cues to shape moral behavior. Ultimately, we offer evidence supporting a characterization of employees as reflexive inter-actionists: moral agents whose automatic decision-making processes interact with the environment to shape their moral behavior.