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

Julian Rode, Michael R. Bashshur, Marc Le Menestrel () and Gert Cornelissen

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: ethical behavior; ethical mindsets; moral balancing; moral consistency (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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