Title
Competition and Sensemaking in Ethical Situations
Document Type
Article
Department or Administrative Unit
Management
Publication Date
2013
Abstract
Competition was examined in relation to ethicality. The effect of a competitor being an in-group vs. out-group member, the competitor offering uncorroborated or corroborated information, and the impact of the competitor goals were examined. The findings suggest that the way competition is presented has an important influence on how individuals make sense of an ethically ambiguous situation and make ethical decisions.A main effect was found, such that when a competitor offered uncorroborated information, participants made less ethical decisions and used pro-ethical reasoning strategies less often. An additional main effect was found suggesting that participants made more ethical decisions when working with an in-group competitor rather than an out-group competitor. Complex interactive effects were also found and discussed.
Recommended Citation
Caughron, J. J., Antes, A. L., Stenmark, C. K., Thiel, C. E., Wang, X., & Mumford, M. D. (2013). Competition and sensemaking in ethical situations: Competition and ethics. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(7), 1491–1507. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12141
Journal
Journal of Applied Social Psychology
Rights
© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Comments
This article was originally published in Journal of Applied Social Psychology. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.
Due to copyright restrictions, this article is not available for free download through ScholarWorks @ CWU.