When are people more open to cheating? Economic inequality makes people expect more everyday unethical behavior.
Economic inequality has been found to be associated with increased unethical behavior and an increased acceptance of unethical behavior. In this paper we explored whether higher amounts of perceived inequality lead to an increase in the expectation of unethical behavior. We tested whether people wou...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2024-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294124 |
| _version_ | 1797295144428371968 |
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| author | Anita Schmalor Adrian K Schroeder Steven J Heine |
| author_facet | Anita Schmalor Adrian K Schroeder Steven J Heine |
| author_sort | Anita Schmalor |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Economic inequality has been found to be associated with increased unethical behavior and an increased acceptance of unethical behavior. In this paper we explored whether higher amounts of perceived inequality lead to an increase in the expectation of unethical behavior. We tested whether people would say that they themselves would engage in more unethical behavior in a context of high compared to low inequality. We find evidence for this hypothesis in 3 of 4 studies (n = 3,038). An internal meta-analysis shows a small but significant effect. Such increased expectations that oneself will behave unethically likely has consequences for societal trust and functioning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:42:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-62e4f8ef27bf495681530fa06ba4a31b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:42:30Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-62e4f8ef27bf495681530fa06ba4a31b2024-02-26T05:31:55ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-01192e029412410.1371/journal.pone.0294124When are people more open to cheating? Economic inequality makes people expect more everyday unethical behavior.Anita SchmalorAdrian K SchroederSteven J HeineEconomic inequality has been found to be associated with increased unethical behavior and an increased acceptance of unethical behavior. In this paper we explored whether higher amounts of perceived inequality lead to an increase in the expectation of unethical behavior. We tested whether people would say that they themselves would engage in more unethical behavior in a context of high compared to low inequality. We find evidence for this hypothesis in 3 of 4 studies (n = 3,038). An internal meta-analysis shows a small but significant effect. Such increased expectations that oneself will behave unethically likely has consequences for societal trust and functioning.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294124 |
| spellingShingle | Anita Schmalor Adrian K Schroeder Steven J Heine When are people more open to cheating? Economic inequality makes people expect more everyday unethical behavior. PLoS ONE |
| title | When are people more open to cheating? Economic inequality makes people expect more everyday unethical behavior. |
| title_full | When are people more open to cheating? Economic inequality makes people expect more everyday unethical behavior. |
| title_fullStr | When are people more open to cheating? Economic inequality makes people expect more everyday unethical behavior. |
| title_full_unstemmed | When are people more open to cheating? Economic inequality makes people expect more everyday unethical behavior. |
| title_short | When are people more open to cheating? Economic inequality makes people expect more everyday unethical behavior. |
| title_sort | when are people more open to cheating economic inequality makes people expect more everyday unethical behavior |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294124 |
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