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Decision-Making Processes on Ethical Issues: The Impact of a Social Contract Perspective

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  • Robertson, Diana C.
  • Ross, William T.

Abstract

This paper develops a framework for examining decision making about ethical issues and tests the applicability of a social contract perspective. Using two separate samples of students and salespeople, we determine that community members (salespeople) tend to judge a potentially unethical act to constitute a violation of an implicit social contract and non-community members (students) do not. Also, consistent with the emphasis on context specificity of integrative social contracts theory, situational variables influence perceptions of ethicality for the community members, but do not affect the perceptions of individuals outside the community. The study finds considerable support for the use of a social contractarian perspective in the study of decision-making processes about ethical issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Robertson, Diana C. & Ross, William T., 1995. "Decision-Making Processes on Ethical Issues: The Impact of a Social Contract Perspective," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(2), pages 213-240, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:buetqu:v:5:y:1995:i:02:p:213-240_01
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    Cited by:

    1. Filipe Sobral & Gazi Islam, 2013. "Ethically Questionable Negotiating: The Interactive Effects of Trust, Competitiveness, and Situation Favorability on Ethical Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 281-296, October.
    2. Kirsten Martin, 2012. "Diminished or Just Different? A Factorial Vignette Study of Privacy as a Social Contract," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(4), pages 519-539, December.
    3. Livia Levine, 2019. "Digital Trust and Cooperation with an Integrative Digital Social Contract," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 393-407, December.
    4. Karen Winterich & Andrea Morales & Vikas Mittal, 2015. "Disgusted or Happy, It is not so Bad: Emotional Mini-Max in Unethical Judgments," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 343-360, August.
    5. Sean Valentine & Connie Bateman, 2011. "The Impact of Ethical Ideologies, Moral Intensity, and Social Context on Sales-Based Ethical Reasoning," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 155-168, August.
    6. Katherina Glac & Tae Kim, 2009. "The “I” in ISCT: Normative and Empirical Facets of Integration," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(4), pages 693-705, October.

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