Morality Rebooted: Exploring Simple Fixes to Our Moral Bugs

55 Pages Posted: 23 Apr 2014

See all articles by Ting Zhang

Ting Zhang

Harvard Business School

Francesca Gino

Harvard University - Business School (HBS)

Max H. Bazerman

Harvard Business School - Negotiations, Organizations and Markets Unit

Date Written: April 21, 2014

Abstract

Ethics research developed partly in response to calls from organizations to understand and solve unethical behavior. Departing from prior work that has mainly focused on examining the antecedents and consequences of dishonesty, we examine two approaches to mitigating unethical behavior: (1) values-oriented approaches that broadly appeal to individuals’ preferences to be more moral, and (2) structure-oriented approaches that redesign specific incentives, tasks, and decisions to reduce temptations to cheat in the environment. This paper explores how these approaches can change behavior. We argue that integrating both approaches while avoiding incompatible strategies can reduce the risk of adverse effects that arise from taking a single approach.

Keywords: corruption, dishonesty, unethical behavior, interventions, structure, values

Suggested Citation

Zhang, Ting and Gino, Francesca and Bazerman, Max H., Morality Rebooted: Exploring Simple Fixes to Our Moral Bugs (April 21, 2014). Harvard Business School NOM Unit Working Paper No. 14-105, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2427259 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2427259

Ting Zhang

Harvard Business School ( email )

Soldiers Field Road
Morgan 270C
Boston, MA 02163
United States

Francesca Gino (Contact Author)

Harvard University - Business School (HBS) ( email )

Soldiers Field Road
Morgan 270C
Boston, MA 02163
United States

Max H. Bazerman

Harvard Business School - Negotiations, Organizations and Markets Unit ( email )

Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
United States
617-495-6429 (Phone)
617-496-4191 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.people.hbs.edu/mbazerman

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