Correcting for Self-Selection Bias in Business Ethics Research

24 Pages Posted: 27 Sep 2004

See all articles by Harvey S. James, Jr.

Harvey S. James, Jr.

University of Missouri at Columbia - Division of Applied Social Sciences

Date Written: July 2004

Abstract

Self-selection bias occurs when there is non-random sampling of membership within a group or category, such as employment status, that is hypothesized to affect a variable of interest, such as ethical attitudes or behaviors. Self-selection bias is germane to a variety of important business ethics questions, such as how the business environment affect personal ethics or whether business students are more or less ethical than non-business students. This paper describes an empirical technique to control for self-selection bias. The technique is applied to the empirical question of whether the employment status of workers is correlated with ethical proclivities. Correcting for self-selection bias shows that an observed negative correlation between employment and ethics is the result of self-selection rather than factors associated with employment, other things being equal.

Keywords: Empirical research, employment status, self-selection bias, worker ethics

JEL Classification: C40, M14, M40

Suggested Citation

James, Harvey S., Correcting for Self-Selection Bias in Business Ethics Research (July 2004). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=596225 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.596225

Harvey S. James (Contact Author)

University of Missouri at Columbia - Division of Applied Social Sciences ( email )

Columbia, MO
United States
573-884-9682 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://https://hsjames2.wordpress.com

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