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How relative concerns affect unethical behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Latifa Barbara

    (MDI Alger Business School)

  • Gilles Grolleau

    (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement)

  • Naoufel Mzoughi

    (ECODEVELOPPEMENT - Ecodéveloppement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

Abstract

We analyze positional concerns in the unethical domain. We introduce an original distinction between "selective" positionality-where individuals prefer behaving unethically but to a lesser extent than peers-and "ego" positionality-where they prefer behaving unethically but to a higher extent than peers, regardless of the absolute level. We also report the results of an exploratory survey in Algeria that exploits the counterintuitive insight that people are better at predicting others' behaviors than their own behaviors. We increase the finding's generalizability by conducting the same survey among a similar sample in France. Our findings are twofold: first, the majority of participants attributes to others preferences for ethical (i.e., where everyone is honest) and unethical egalitarian (where all are similarly dishonest) situations. Second, a non-negligible proportion of respondents attributes to the average individual preferences for either selective or ego-positionality in unethical behaviors.

Suggested Citation

  • Latifa Barbara & Gilles Grolleau & Naoufel Mzoughi, 2021. "How relative concerns affect unethical behaviors," Post-Print hal-03434068, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03434068
    DOI: 10.1080/00213624.2021.1982344
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03434068
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