Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in Management: Experimental Investigations of Values, Accountability, and Choice |
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| Authors: | Arthur P Brief Janet M Dukerich Lucinda I Doran |
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| Institution: | A.B. Freeman School of Business Tulane University;College of Business Administration University of Texas at Austin;College of Business Administration Northeastern University |
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| Abstract: | 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. |
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