Non-businessmen as surrogates for businessmen in behavioral experiments

The article analyzes the validity and reliability of using the results of behavioral experiments in stimulating businessmen in real life situation. 301 samples of various fields namely business and non-business managers, students and military personnels were taken for the experiment. The businesss situation taken was that a manager had abruptly discharged his subordinate on the context of performance. The subjects were required to make a letter of advocacy and also were asked to write their opinion on the firing done by the manager. The letter of advocacy was the subject's effort, in writing, to support the point of view assigned to him. One point of view had the subject approving the manager's method of firing the subordinate and the other point of view had him disapproving. If change in opinion for both groups of advocates had occurred toward one point of view and not toward the other, then the change could have been reasonably attributed to bias in the topic. Military personnel showed the least significant opinion changes in advocating either of the two points of view. On the other extreme, business managers showed rather highly significant changes irrespective of point of view advocated.