IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v130y2015i2p253-269.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Global Financial Crisis and the Values of Professionals in Finance: An Empirical Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • André Hoorn

Abstract

The idea that the ethical values of professionals in finance (PIFs) (e.g., stockbrokers and fund managers) have played a role in the global financial crisis (GFC) is widespread. The crisis-of-ethics debate is important, concerning one of the main policy challenges of our times, but is based on popular lore and anecdotes rather than systematic evidence. We analyze the self-enhancement and self-transcendence values of PIFs vis-à-vis the general population and test for patterns of variation that are consistent with the idea of a crisis of values, meaning patterns of variation that would implicate PIFs’ values in the GFC. Employing pre-crisis data allows for an unbiased assessment. Results reveal only minor differences in values between PIFs and the general population, too small to support the idea of a crisis of ethical values by objective standards. Extensive robustness checks confirm these findings, sometimes actually revealing values differences counter to the crisis of ethical values idea. We conclude that the financial system would not have fared better had we had a different breed of PIFs. Rather, situational forces can induce severe disregard for the welfare of others, also in people with ordinary, decent values. Hence, if anything, the GFC shows that the financial services industry has been providing an environment highly conducive to unethical behavior. The practical implication is that fixes to the financial system can only come from improved regulatory design. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • André Hoorn, 2015. "The Global Financial Crisis and the Values of Professionals in Finance: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 253-269, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:130:y:2015:i:2:p:253-269
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2225-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-014-2225-5
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-014-2225-5?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. Robert H. Frank & Thomas Gilovich & Dennis T. Regan, 1993. "Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 159-171, Spring.
    2. Johan Graafland & Bert Ven, 2011. "The Credit Crisis and the Moral Responsibility of Professionals in Finance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(4), pages 605-619, November.
    3. K. Jin & Ronald Drozdenko & Sara DeLoughy, 2013. "The Role of Corporate Value Clusters in Ethics, Social Responsibility, and Performance: A Study of Financial Professionals and Implications for the Financial Meltdown," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(1), pages 15-24, January.
    4. Robert H. Frank & Thomas D. Gilovich & Dennis T. Regan, 1996. "Do Economists Make Bad Citizens?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 187-192, Winter.
    5. Clive Boddy, 2011. "The Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial Crisis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 255-259, August.
    6. George Lan & Zhenzhong Ma & JianAn Cao & He Zhang, 2009. "A Comparison of Personal Values of Chinese Accounting Practitioners and Students," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(1), pages 59-76, April.
    7. Thomas Donaldson, 2012. "Three Ethical Roots of the Economic Crisis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 106(1), pages 5-8, March.
    8. Marwell, Gerald & Ames, Ruth E., 1981. "Economists free ride, does anyone else? : Experiments on the provision of public goods, IV," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 295-310, June.
    9. John R. Carter & Michael D. Irons, 1991. "Are Economists Different, and If So, Why?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(2), pages 171-177, Spring.
    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. van Hoorn, Andr, 2016. "How are migrant employees manages? An integrated analysis," Research Report 16001-GEM, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    2. Ahrens, Steffen & Bosch-Rosa, Ciril, 2022. "Motivated beliefs, social preferences, and limited liability in financial decision-making," Discussion Papers 2022/8, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    3. van Hoorn, André, 2018. "The use of identity primes to explain behavioral differences between groups: A methodological note," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 146-150.
    4. van Hoorn, Andre, 2016. "The Cultural Roots of Human Capital Accumulation," MPRA Paper 80007, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Deter, Max & van Hoorn, André, 2023. "Selection, socialization, and risk preferences in the finance industry: Longitudinal evidence for German finance professionals," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    6. André Hoorn, 2019. "Generational Shifts in Managerial Values and the Coming of a Unified Business Culture: A Cross-National Analysis Using European Social Survey Data," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 547-566, March.
    7. van Hoorn, Andre, 2015. "Organizational Culture in the Financial Sector: Evidence from a Cross-Industry Analysis of Employee Personal Values and Career," MPRA Paper 67222, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Dancsik, Bálint, 2020. "Rendszerszintű kockázat rendszerszintű erkölcs nélkül. Kiegészítések a pénzügyi válságok etikai magyarázatához [Systemic risk without systemic ethics. Supplements to the ethical explanation of fina," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 225-243.
    9. Adams, Renée B., 2021. "Trust in finance: Values matter," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    10. Øyvind Kvalnes & Salvör Nordal, 2019. "Normalization of Questionable Behavior: An Ethical Root of the Financial Crisis in Iceland," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 761-775, October.
    11. Max Deter, 2020. "Prosociality and Risk Preferences in the Financial Sector," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1075, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Eva Parga Dans & Pablo Alonso González, 2021. "The Unethical Enterprise of the Past: Lessons from the Collapse of Archaeological Heritage Management in Spain," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(3), pages 447-461, September.
    13. Limbach, Peter & Rau, P. Raghavendra & Schürmann, Henrik, 2023. "The decline of trust across the U.S. finance industry," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 324-344.
    14. André Hoorn, 2017. "Organizational Culture in the Financial Sector: Evidence from a Cross-Industry Analysis of Employee Personal Values and Career Success," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(2), pages 451-467, December.
    15. Ahrens, Steffen & Bosch-Rosa, Ciril, 2023. "Motivated beliefs, social preferences, and limited liability in financial decision-Making," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).

    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. Faravelli, Marco, 2007. "How context matters: A survey based experiment on distributive justice," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(7-8), pages 1399-1422, August.
    2. Bodo Sturm & Joachim Weimann, 2006. "Experiments in Environmental Economics and Some Close Relatives," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 419-457, July.
    3. Bruno Frey & Stephan Meier, 2005. "Selfish and Indoctrinated Economists?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 165-171, April.
    4. Javdani, Moshen & Chang, Ha-Joon, 2019. "Who Said or What Said? Estimating Ideological Bias in Views Among Economists," MPRA Paper 91958, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Ruske, René & Suttner, Johannes, 2012. "Wie (un-)fair sind Ökonomen? Neue empirische Evidenz zur Marktbewertung und Rationalität," CIW Discussion Papers 03/2012, University of Münster, Center for Interdisciplinary Economics (CIW).
    6. Ruske René & Suttner Johannes, 2012. "Wie (un-)fair sind Ökonomen? – Neue empirische Evidenz zur Marktbewertung und Rationalität / How (un-)fair are economists? New empirical evidence on market valuation and rationality," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 63(1), pages 179-194, January.
    7. Kaiser, Tim & Oberrauch, Luis, 2021. "Economic education at the expense of indoctrination? Evidence from Germany," EconStor Preprints 245801, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    8. Astri Drange Hole, 2013. "How do economists differ from others in distributive situations?," Nordic Journal of Political Economy, Nordic Journal of Political Economy, vol. 38, pages 1-4.
    9. Müller, Andrea & Haucap, Justus, 2014. "Why are Economists so Different? Nature, Nurture and Gender Effects in a Simple Trust Game," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100554, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    10. Girts Racko, 2019. "Does Economic Rationalization Decrease or Increase Accounting Professionals’ Occupational Values?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 763-777, September.
    11. repec:noj:journl:v:38:y:2013:p:4 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Philipp Gerlach, 2017. "The games economists play: Why economics students behave more selfishly than other students," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(9), pages 1-17, September.
    13. Stephen Meier & Bruno Frey, 2004. "Do Business Students Make Good Citizens?," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 141-163.
    14. Lange, Andreas & Vogt, Carsten & Ziegler, Andreas, 2007. "On the importance of equity in international climate policy: An empirical analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 545-562, May.
    15. João Carlos Graça & João Carlos Lopes & Rita Gomes Correia, 2014. "Economics education: literacy or mind framing? Evidence from a survey on the social building of trust in Portugal," Working Papers Department of Economics 2014/20, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    16. Brinja Meiseberg & Thomas Ehrmann & Aloys Prinz, 2017. "“Anything worth winning is worth cheating for”? Determinants of cheating behavior among business and theology students," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(8), pages 985-1016, November.
    17. Kirchgassner, Gebhard, 2005. "(Why) are economists different?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 543-562, September.
    18. René Ruske, 2015. "Does Economics Make Politicians Corrupt? Empirical Evidence from the United States Congress," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(2), pages 240-254, May.
    19. Astri Drange Hole, 2008. "How do economists differ from others in distributive situations?," Labsi Experimental Economics Laboratory University of Siena 023, University of Siena.
    20. Pies, Ingo & Hielscher, Stefan, 2013. "(Verhaltens-)Ökonomik versus (Ordnungs-)Ethik? Zum moralischen Stellenwert von Dispositionen und Institutionen," Discussion Papers 2013-22, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Chair of Economic Ethics.
    21. Bruno S. Frey & Stephan Meier, "undated". "Political Economists are Neither Selfish nor Indoctrinated," IEW - Working Papers 069, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.

    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:130:y:2015:i:2:p:253-269. 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.