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Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in Management: Experimental Investigations of Values, Accountability, and Choice
Author(s) -
Brief Arthur P.,
Dukerich Janet M.,
Doran Lucinda I.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1991.tb00526.x
Subject(s) - accountability , dilemma , psychology , ethical dilemma , social psychology , sample (material) , resolution (logic) , political science , epistemology , law , chemistry , philosophy , chromatography , artificial intelligence , computer science
Hypotheses regarding the effects of personal values and accountability on the resolution of ethical dilemmas in management were formulated and tested experimentally with a sample of 135 M.B.A. students. Personal values were found to be related to how subjects chose to resolve an ethical dilemma presented to them; but, as expected, this relationship did not hold when subjects were made to feel accountable to another for their choices. Accountability, unexpectedly, however, did not have a main effect on choices. This lack of an effect tentatively was attributed to the inexplicitness of the accountability manipulations. In a second and third experiment, support for the importance of explicitness in accountability research was obtained. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings from all three experiments were discussed.