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‘Doing Business After the Fall: The Virtue of Moral Hypocrisy’

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  • C. Batson
  • Elizabeth Collins
  • Adam Powell

Abstract

Moral hypocrisy is motivation to appear moral yet, if possible, avoid the cost of actually being moral. In business, moral hypocrisy allows one to engender trust, solve the commitment problem, and still relentlessly pursue personal gain. Indicating the power of this motive, research has provided clear and consistent evidence that, given the opportunity, many people act to appear fair (e.g., they flip a coin to distribute resources between themselves and another person) without actually being fair (they accept the flip only if it favors themselves). New evidence also indicates the power of moral hypocrisy in a situation more obviously relevant to business, resource allocation when one party has information about relative resource value that the other does not. Characteristics of modern business situations likely to encourage moral hypocrisy are outlined. We conclude that moral hypocrisy is not only a pragmatic virtue in modern business but is also fast becoming a prescriptive one. Copyright Springer 2006

Suggested Citation

  • C. Batson & Elizabeth Collins & Adam Powell, 2006. "‘Doing Business After the Fall: The Virtue of Moral Hypocrisy’," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 66(4), pages 321-335, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:66:y:2006:i:4:p:321-335
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-006-0011-8
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    Cited by:

    1. Patrizia Gazzola & Audrey Paterson & Stefano Amelio & Daniele Grechi & Stefano Cristina, 2023. "The role of individual social responsibility and corporate social responsibility in the tax fraud war: A comparison between the priorities of Italian and Romanian consumers," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 2265-2277, September.
    2. Roberts, Michael L., 2010. "Independence, impartiality, and advocacy in client conflicts," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 29-39.
    3. Kevin Morrell & Stephen Brammer, 2016. "Governance and Virtue: The Case of Public Order Policing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 385-398, June.
    4. Alvina Gillani & Smirti Kutaula & Leonidas C. Leonidou & Paul Christodoulides, 2021. "The Impact of Proximity on Consumer Fair Trade Engagement and Purchasing Behavior: The Moderating Role of Empathic Concern and Hypocrisy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 557-577, March.
    5. Hafenbrädl, Sebastian & Waeger, Daniel, 2021. "The business case for CSR: A trump card against hypocrisy?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 838-848.
    6. Massin, Sophie, 2012. "Is harm reduction profitable? An analytical framework for corporate social responsibility based on an epidemic model of addictive consumption," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(12), pages 1856-1863.
    7. Qing Miao & Jun Zhou, 2020. "Corporate Hypocrisy and Counterproductive Work Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model of Organizational Identification and Perceived Importance of CSR," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-20, March.
    8. Leo Tang & Marietta Peytcheva & Pei Li, 2020. "Investor-Paid Ratings and Conflicts of Interest," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 365-378, May.
    9. Michiel Vries & Iwona Sobis, 2014. "Reluctant Reforms: The Case of Kazakhstan," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 139-157, June.
    10. Boris Bartikowski & Fernando Fastoso & Heribert Gierl, 2021. "How Nationalistic Appeals Affect Foreign Luxury Brand Reputation: A Study of Ambivalent Effects," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 261-277, March.
    11. Laura Grazzini & Diletta Acuti & Valentina Mazzoli & Luca Petruzzellis & Daniel Korschun, 2020. "Standing for politics: What consequences for brands?," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2020(1), pages 49-65, March.
    12. Diletta Acuti & Marco Bellucci & Giacomo Manetti, 2024. "Preventive and Remedial Actions in Corporate Reporting Among “Addiction Industries”: Legitimacy, Effectiveness and Hypocrisy Perception," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(3), pages 603-623, January.

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