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Personal Motives, Moral Disengagement, and Unethical Decisions by Entrepreneurs: Cognitive Mechanisms on the “Slippery Slope”

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  • Robert Baron
  • Hao Zhao
  • Qing Miao

Abstract

Entrepreneurs sometimes make unethical decisions that have devastating effects on their companies, stakeholders, and themselves. We suggest that insights into the origins of such actions can be acquired through attention to personal motives and their impact on moral disengagement—a cognitive process that deactivates moral self-regulation, thus enabling individuals to behave in ways inconsistent with their own values. We hypothesize that entrepreneurs’ motivation for financial gains is positively related to moral disengagement, while their motivation for self-realization is negatively related to this process. Results obtained with a sample of founding entrepreneurs offered support for the first prediction, as well as support for the prediction that moral disengagement is positively related to the tendency to make unethical decisions. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

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  • Robert Baron & Hao Zhao & Qing Miao, 2015. "Personal Motives, Moral Disengagement, and Unethical Decisions by Entrepreneurs: Cognitive Mechanisms on the “Slippery Slope”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 107-118, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:128:y:2015:i:1:p:107-118
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2078-y
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    Cited by:

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    4. Shepherd, Dean A. & Osofero, Moses & Wincent, Joakim, 2022. "A personal adversity model of justifying the costs of entrepreneurial action: The case of oil thieves in the Niger DELTA," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(1).
    5. Dan K. Hsu & J. Robert Mitchell & Xian Cao, 2024. "Examining Psychological Mediators in Entrepreneurship: Experimental Designs, Remedies, and Recommendations," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(1), pages 418-445, January.
    6. Hong, Michelle C. & Lin, Hsing-Er & Hsu, Dan K. & Shi, Yongchuan, 2021. "When ownership of the venture triggers cofounders’ unethical pro-venture behavior," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    7. Dickel, Petra & Graeff, Peter, 2018. "Entrepreneurs' propensity for corruption: A vignette-based factorial survey," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 77-86.
    8. Vasilis Theoharakis & Seraphim Voliotis & Jeffrey M. Pollack, 2021. "Going Down the Slippery Slope of Legitimacy Lies in Early-Stage Ventures: The Role of Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(4), pages 673-690, September.
    9. W. Robert Knechel & Natalia Mintchik, 2022. "Do Personal Beliefs and Values Affect an Individual’s “Fraud Tolerance”? Evidence from the World Values Survey," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 463-489, May.
    10. Mulder, Laetitia B. & Rink, Floor & Jordan, Jennifer, 2020. "Constraining temptation: How specific and general rules mitigate the effect of personal gain on unethical behavior," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    11. Hailing Liu & Ping Hu & Kewei Shi & Yudan Zhang, 2023. "Does Psychological Contract Violation Change the Original Intention of Eco-Tourists to Participate in Scenic Value Co-Creation?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-21, March.
    12. Alexander Newman & Huong Le & Andrea North-Samardzic & Michael Cohen, 2020. "Moral Disengagement at Work: A Review and Research Agenda," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 535-570, December.
    13. Ikseon Suh & John T. Sweeney & Kristina Linke & Joseph M. Wall, 2020. "Boiling the Frog Slowly: The Immersion of C-Suite Financial Executives into Fraud," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 645-673, March.
    14. Helet Botha & R. Edward Freeman, 2023. "Existentialist Perspectives on the Problem and Prevention of Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 499-511, July.
    15. Sherman, Gary D., 2020. "The moral psychology of continuation decisions: A recipe for moral disengagement," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 36-48.
    16. David J. Scheaf & Matthew S. Wood, 2022. "Entrepreneurial Fraud: A Multidisciplinary Review and Synthesized Framework," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(3), pages 607-642, May.
    17. Vallaster, Christine & Kraus, Sascha & Merigó Lindahl, José M. & Nielsen, Annika, 2019. "Ethics and entrepreneurship: A bibliometric study and literature review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 226-237.
    18. Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury, 2017. "Emotional Intelligence and Consumer Ethics: The Mediating Role of Personal Moral Philosophies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 527-548, May.
    19. E. Zabelina & D. Tsiring & Yu Chestyunina, 2018. "Personal helplessness and self-reliance as predictors of small business development in Russia: pilot study results," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 279-293, June.
    20. Thang V. Nguyen & Minh H. Doan & Nhung H. Tran, 2021. "The perpetuation of bribery–prone relationships: A study from Vietnamese public officials," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(5), pages 244-256, December.
    21. Hongyu Zhang & Xin Lucy Liu & Yahua Cai & Xiuli Sun, 2023. "Paved with Good Intentions: Self-regulation Breakdown After Altruistic Ethical Transgression," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(2), pages 385-405, August.
    22. Kevin Tasa & Chris M. Bell, 2017. "Effects of Implicit Negotiation Beliefs and Moral Disengagement on Negotiator Attitudes and Deceptive Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 169-183, April.
    23. Shepherd, Dean A. & Majchrzak, Ann, 2022. "Machines augmenting entrepreneurs: Opportunities (and threats) at the Nexus of artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    24. Baron, Robert A. & Tang, Jintong & Tang, Zhi & Zhang, Yuli, 2018. "Bribes as entrepreneurial actions: Why underdog entrepreneurs feel compelled to use them," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 679-690.

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