Between me and we: The importance of self-profit versus social justifiability 
for ethical decision making

Klein, S. A.; Thielmann, Isabel; Hilbig, Benjamin; Zettler, I.

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Between me and we: The importance of self-profit versus social justifiability for ethical decision making

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Klein, S. A., Thielmann, I., Hilbig, B., & Zettler, I. (2017). Between me and we: The importance of self-profit versus social justifiability for ethical decision making. Judgment and Decision Making, 12, 563-571.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0009-E8CC-C

Abstract

Current theories of dishonest behavior suggest that both individual profits and the availability of justifications drive cheating.
Although some evidence hints that cheating behavior is most prevalent when both self-profit and social justifications are present,
the relative impact of each of these factors is insufficiently understood. This study provides a fine-grained analysis of the trade-off
between self-profit versus social justifiability. In a non-student online sample, we assessed dishonest behavior in a coin-tossing
task, involving six conditions which systematically varied both self-profit and social justifiability (in terms of social welfare),
such that a decrease in the former was associated with the exact same increase in the latter. Results showed that self-profit
outweighed social justifiability, but that there was also an effect of social justification.