IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v128y2015i1p107-118.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Personal Motives, Moral Disengagement, and Unethical Decisions by Entrepreneurs: Cognitive Mechanisms on the “Slippery Slope”

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Baron
  • Hao Zhao
  • Qing Miao

Abstract

Entrepreneurs sometimes make unethical decisions that have devastating effects on their companies, stakeholders, and themselves. We suggest that insights into the origins of such actions can be acquired through attention to personal motives and their impact on moral disengagement—a cognitive process that deactivates moral self-regulation, thus enabling individuals to behave in ways inconsistent with their own values. We hypothesize that entrepreneurs’ motivation for financial gains is positively related to moral disengagement, while their motivation for self-realization is negatively related to this process. Results obtained with a sample of founding entrepreneurs offered support for the first prediction, as well as support for the prediction that moral disengagement is positively related to the tendency to make unethical decisions. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Baron & Hao Zhao & Qing Miao, 2015. "Personal Motives, Moral Disengagement, and Unethical Decisions by Entrepreneurs: Cognitive Mechanisms on the “Slippery Slope”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 107-118, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:128:y:2015:i:1:p:107-118
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2078-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-014-2078-y
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-014-2078-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carter, Nancy M. & Gartner, William B. & Shaver, Kelly G. & Gatewood, Elizabeth J., 2003. "The career reasons of nascent entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 13-39, January.
    2. Jan Lepoutre & Aimé Heene, 2006. "Investigating the Impact of Firm Size on Small Business Social Responsibility: A Critical Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(3), pages 257-273, September.
    3. Georges Enderle, 2010. "Wealth Creation in China and Some Lessons for Development Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 1-15, September.
    4. Celia Moore, 2008. "Moral Disengagement in Processes of Organizational Corruption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 80(1), pages 129-139, June.
    5. Gavin Cassar, 2007. "Money, money, money? A longitudinal investigation of entrepreneur career reasons, growth preferences and achieved growth," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 89-107, January.
    6. Holt, David H., 1997. "A comparative study of values among Chinese and U.S. entrepreneurs: Pragmatic convergence between contrasting cultures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 483-505, November.
    7. Tang, Zhi & Tang, Jintong, 2012. "Stakeholder–firm power difference, stakeholders' CSR orientation, and SMEs' environmental performance in China," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 436-455.
    8. Douglas W. Naffziger & Jeffrey S. Hornsby & Donald F. Kuratko, 1994. "A Proposed Research Model of Entrepreneurial Motivation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 18(3), pages 29-42, April.
    9. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    10. Xinshu Zhao & John G. Lynch & Qimei Chen, 2010. "Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(2), pages 197-206, August.
    11. Marvin Claybourn, 2011. "Relationships Between Moral Disengagement, Work Characteristics and Workplace Harassment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 100(2), pages 283-301, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ulf Schaefer & Onno Bouwmeester, 2021. "Reconceptualizing Moral Disengagement as a Process: Transcending Overly Liberal and Overly Conservative Practice in the Field," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(3), pages 525-543, September.
    2. Yongbo Sun & Jiajia Zhang, 2019. "Acquiescence or Resistance: Group Norms and Self-Interest Motivation in Unethical Consumer Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-25, April.
    3. Shepherd, Dean A. & Osofero, Moses & Wincent, Joakim, 2022. "A personal adversity model of justifying the costs of entrepreneurial action: The case of oil thieves in the Niger DELTA," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(1).
    4. Dan K. Hsu & J. Robert Mitchell & Xian Cao, 2024. "Examining Psychological Mediators in Entrepreneurship: Experimental Designs, Remedies, and Recommendations," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(1), pages 418-445, January.
    5. Hong, Michelle C. & Lin, Hsing-Er & Hsu, Dan K. & Shi, Yongchuan, 2021. "When ownership of the venture triggers cofounders’ unethical pro-venture behavior," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    6. Dickel, Petra & Graeff, Peter, 2018. "Entrepreneurs' propensity for corruption: A vignette-based factorial survey," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 77-86.
    7. Vasilis Theoharakis & Seraphim Voliotis & Jeffrey M. Pollack, 2021. "Going Down the Slippery Slope of Legitimacy Lies in Early-Stage Ventures: The Role of Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(4), pages 673-690, September.
    8. W. Robert Knechel & Natalia Mintchik, 2022. "Do Personal Beliefs and Values Affect an Individual’s “Fraud Tolerance”? Evidence from the World Values Survey," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 463-489, May.
    9. Mulder, Laetitia B. & Rink, Floor & Jordan, Jennifer, 2020. "Constraining temptation: How specific and general rules mitigate the effect of personal gain on unethical behavior," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. Hailing Liu & Ping Hu & Kewei Shi & Yudan Zhang, 2023. "Does Psychological Contract Violation Change the Original Intention of Eco-Tourists to Participate in Scenic Value Co-Creation?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-21, March.
    11. Alexander Newman & Huong Le & Andrea North-Samardzic & Michael Cohen, 2020. "Moral Disengagement at Work: A Review and Research Agenda," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 535-570, December.
    12. Ikseon Suh & John T. Sweeney & Kristina Linke & Joseph M. Wall, 2020. "Boiling the Frog Slowly: The Immersion of C-Suite Financial Executives into Fraud," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 645-673, March.
    13. Helet Botha & R. Edward Freeman, 2023. "Existentialist Perspectives on the Problem and Prevention of Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 499-511, July.
    14. Sherman, Gary D., 2020. "The moral psychology of continuation decisions: A recipe for moral disengagement," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 36-48.
    15. David J. Scheaf & Matthew S. Wood, 2022. "Entrepreneurial Fraud: A Multidisciplinary Review and Synthesized Framework," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(3), pages 607-642, May.
    16. Vallaster, Christine & Kraus, Sascha & Merigó Lindahl, José M. & Nielsen, Annika, 2019. "Ethics and entrepreneurship: A bibliometric study and literature review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 226-237.
    17. Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury, 2017. "Emotional Intelligence and Consumer Ethics: The Mediating Role of Personal Moral Philosophies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 527-548, May.
    18. E. Zabelina & D. Tsiring & Yu Chestyunina, 2018. "Personal helplessness and self-reliance as predictors of small business development in Russia: pilot study results," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 279-293, June.
    19. Thang V. Nguyen & Minh H. Doan & Nhung H. Tran, 2021. "The perpetuation of bribery–prone relationships: A study from Vietnamese public officials," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(5), pages 244-256, December.
    20. Hongyu Zhang & Xin Lucy Liu & Yahua Cai & Xiuli Sun, 2023. "Paved with Good Intentions: Self-regulation Breakdown After Altruistic Ethical Transgression," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(2), pages 385-405, August.
    21. Kevin Tasa & Chris M. Bell, 2017. "Effects of Implicit Negotiation Beliefs and Moral Disengagement on Negotiator Attitudes and Deceptive Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 169-183, April.
    22. Shepherd, Dean A. & Majchrzak, Ann, 2022. "Machines augmenting entrepreneurs: Opportunities (and threats) at the Nexus of artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    23. Baron, Robert A. & Tang, Jintong & Tang, Zhi & Zhang, Yuli, 2018. "Bribes as entrepreneurial actions: Why underdog entrepreneurs feel compelled to use them," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 679-690.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniela Bolzani & Maw Der Foo, 2018. "The “why” of international entrepreneurship: uncovering entrepreneurs’ personal values," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 639-666, October.
    2. Kim Hoe Looi, 2020. "Contextual Motivations for Undergraduates’ Entrepreneurial Intentions in Emerging Asian Economies," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 29(1), pages 53-87, March.
    3. Nora Hesse, 2015. "Students' Career Attitudes - How Entrepreneurial Are Prospective Scientists?," Working Papers on Innovation and Space 2015-03, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    4. Ingrid Verheul & Joern Block & Katrin Burmeister-Lamp & Roy Thurik & Henning Tiemeier & Roxana Turturea, 2015. "ADHD-like behavior and entrepreneurial intentions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 85-101, June.
    5. Forsström-Tuominen, Heidi & Jussila, Iiro & Kolhinen, Johanna, 2015. "Business school students’ social construction of entrepreneurship: Claiming space for collective entrepreneurship discourses," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 102-120.
    6. Yongbo Sun & Jiajia Zhang, 2019. "Acquiescence or Resistance: Group Norms and Self-Interest Motivation in Unethical Consumer Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-25, April.
    7. Douglas, Evan J., 2013. "Reconstructing entrepreneurial intentions to identify predisposition for growth," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 633-651.
    8. Edmund R. Thompson, 2009. "Individual Entrepreneurial Intent: Construct Clarification and Development of an Internationally Reliable Metric," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(3), pages 669-694, May.
    9. Nora Hesse & Jürgen Brünjes, 2018. "How entrepreneurial are students who intend to become academics? – A study of career motives," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 38(1), pages 27-52, February.
    10. José Pedro Carreón-Gutiérrez & José Manuel Saiz-Álvarez, 2019. "Opportunity Motivation and Growth Aspirations of Mexican Entrepreneurs: The Moderating Role of the Household Income," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-15, November.
    11. Mingfeng Tang & Mei Mei & Cuiwen Li & Xingyang Lv & Xushuang Li & Lihao Wang, 2020. "How does an individual’s default behavior on an online peer-to-peer lending platform influence an observer’s default intention?," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 6(1), pages 1-20, December.
    12. Nosheena Yasir & Nasir Mahmood & Hafiz Shakir Mehmood & Osama Rashid & An Liren, 2021. "The Integrated Role of Personal Values and Theory of Planned Behavior to Form a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Intention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-21, August.
    13. Zellweger, Thomas & Sieger, Philipp & Halter, Frank, 2011. "Should I stay or should I go? Career choice intentions of students with family business background," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 521-536, September.
    14. Arne K. Albrecht & Gianfranco Walsh & Simon Brach & Dwayne D. Gremler & Erica Herpen, 2017. "The influence of service employees and other customers on customer unfriendliness: a social norms perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(6), pages 827-847, November.
    15. Asante, Eric Adom & Affum-Osei, Emmanuel, 2019. "Entrepreneurship as a career choice: The impact of locus of control on aspiring entrepreneurs' opportunity recognition," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 227-235.
    16. Qian, Lixian & Yin, Juelin & Huang, Youlin & Liang, Ya, 2023. "The role of values and ethics in influencing consumers’ intention to use autonomous vehicle hailing services," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    17. Marco Caliendo & Alexander S. Kritikos & Daniel Rodríguez & Claudia Stier, 2023. "Self-efficacy and entrepreneurial performance of start-ups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 1027-1051, October.
    18. Marco Caliendo & Alexander S. Kritikos & Claudia Stier, 2023. "The influence of start-up motivation on entrepreneurial performance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 869-889, October.
    19. Zaitul Zaitul & Novianti Neva & Ilona Desi, 2022. "Village-Based Tourism Performance: Tourist Satisfaction and Revisit Intention," Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism, Sciendo, vol. 29(2), pages 36-43, June.
    20. Laura Helen Middermann, 2020. "Do Immigrant Entrepreneurs Have Natural Cognitive Advantages for International Entrepreneurial Activity?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-13, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:128:y:2015:i:1:p:107-118. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.