Rules or Consequences? The Role of Ethical Mindsets in Moral Dynamics

Julian Rode, Michael R. Bashshur and Gert Cornelissen
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Marc LE MENESTREL ()

No 601, Working Papers from Barcelona School of Economics

Abstract: Recent research on the dynamics of moral behavior has documented two contrasting phenomena – moral consistency and moral balancing. Moral balancing refers to the phenomenon whereby behaving (un)ethically decreases the likelihood of doing so again at a later time. Moral consistency describes the opposite pattern – engaging in (un)ethical behavior increases the likelihood of doing so later on. Three studies support the hypothesis that individuals' ethical mindset (i.e., outcome-based versus rule-based) moderates the impact of an initial (un)ethical act on the likelihood of behaving ethically in a subsequent occasion. More specifically, an outcome-based mindset facilitates moral balancing and a rule-based mindset facilitates moral consistency.

Keywords: moral balancing; moral consistency; ethical mindsets; ethical behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D03 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-09
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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Working Paper: Rules or consequences? The role of ethical mindsets in moral dynamics (2012)
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