IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0312930.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Moral character and competence judgments of sexual harassers and fraudsters in academic and business contexts

Author

Listed:
  • Katarzyna Miazek
  • Konrad Bocian
  • Katarzyna Myslinska-Szarek

Abstract

Fraud and sexual harassment have been haunting academia for years. While the scientific community proposed strategies to overcome misconduct in research, the problem of sexual harassment seems unresolved. One reason for this might be a difference between men and women in the perception of the moral character and competence of sexual harassers. Across four studies (N = 3776), in the UK and the US, men judged the sexual harasser as less immoral than women (Studies 1, 2, and 3a), even though sexual harassment was considered more harmful than fraud (Study 2). Consequently, men demanded less punishment for sexual harassers than women (Studies 1 and 2). This gender difference was not explained by moral rationalization (Study 3a). Further, a sexual harasser was judged as more competent than a fraudster but in an academic, not business, context (Studies 1 and 2). This effect was driven by the moral decoupling process, which participants used to separate competence judgments from moral judgments (Study 3b). Overall, these results suggest that in the academic context, gender interests most likely shape moral and punishment judgments towards sexual harassers, while the decoupling process allows both genders to perceive them as competent and immoral at the same time.

Suggested Citation

  • Katarzyna Miazek & Konrad Bocian & Katarzyna Myslinska-Szarek, 2024. "Moral character and competence judgments of sexual harassers and fraudsters in academic and business contexts," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(11), pages 1-20, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0312930
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0312930
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0312930
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0312930&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0312930?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amit Bhattacharjee & Jonathan Z. Berman & Americus Reed II, 2013. "Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger: How Moral Decoupling Enables Consumers to Admire and Admonish," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 39(6), pages 1167-1184.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Chris Hydock & Neeru Paharia & T. J. Weber, 2019. "The Consumer Response to Corporate Political Advocacy: a Review and Future Directions," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 6(3), pages 76-83, December.
    2. Joon Sung Lee & Dae Hee Kwak, 2016. "Consumers’ Responses to Public Figures’ Transgression: Moral Reasoning Strategies and Implications for Endorsed Brands," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 101-113, August.
    3. Jones, Scott & Cronin, James & Piacentini, Maria G., 2022. "Celebrity brand break-up: Fan experiences of para-loveshock," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 720-731.
    4. Jie Chen & Lefa Teng & Yonghai Liao, 2018. "Counterfeit Luxuries: Does Moral Reasoning Strategy Influence Consumers’ Pursuit of Counterfeits?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 249-264, August.
    5. Austin, Chelsea Rae & Bobek, Donna D. & Jackson, Scott, 2021. "Does prospect theory explain ethical decision making? Evidence from tax compliance," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    6. Magali Muraro & Karine Cissé -Depardon, 2015. "Proposition d'une échelle de mesure de l'état de désorientation du consommateur dans le domaine de la santé alimentaire," Post-Print hal-02587231, HAL.
    7. Lee, Joon Sung & Kwak, Dae Hee, 2017. "Can winning take care of everything? A longitudinal assessment of post-transgression actions on repairing trust in an athlete endorser," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 261-272.
    8. Pallant, Jason I. & Pallant, Jessica L. & Sands, Sean J. & Ferraro, Carla R. & Afifi, Eslam, 2022. "When and how consumers are willing to exchange data with retailers: An exploratory segmentation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    9. Mukherjee, Sourjo & Althuizen, Niek, 2020. "Brand activism: Does courting controversy help or hurt a brand?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 772-788.
    10. Kristina Haberstroh & Ulrich R. Orth & Stefan Hoffmann & Berit Brunk, 2017. "Consumer Response to Unethical Corporate Behavior: A Re-Examination and Extension of the Moral Decoupling Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 161-173, January.
    11. Boman, Laura & Lefebvre, Sarah & Urumutta Hewage, Ganga S., 2023. "When push comes to shove: How coach versus student athlete misconduct affects event attendance intentions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    12. Moritz Loock & Diane M. Phillips, 2020. "A Firm’s Financial Reputation vs. Sustainability Reputation: Do Consumers Really Care?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-17, December.
    13. Sourjo Mukherjee & Niek Althuizen, 2020. "Brand Activism: Does Courting Controversy Help or Hurt a Brand?," Post-Print hal-03095886, HAL.
    14. Sharma, Isha & Jain, Kokil & Behl, Abhishek, 2020. "Effect of service transgressions on distant third-party customers: The role of moral identity and moral judgment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 696-712.
    15. Jorge Matute & José Luis Sánchez-Torelló & Ramon Palau-Saumell, 2021. "The Influence of Organizations’ Tax Avoidance Practices on Consumers’ Behavior: The Role of Moral Reasoning Strategies, Political Ideology, and Brand Identification," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(2), pages 369-386, November.
    16. Paolo Antonetti & Benedetta Crisafulli & Aybars Tuncdogan, 2021. "“Just Look the Other Way”: Job Seekers’ Reactions to the Irresponsibility of Market-Dominant Employers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(2), pages 403-422, November.
    17. Stefano Pace & Matteo Corciolani & Giacomo Gistri, 2017. "Consumers? responses to ethical brand crises on social media platforms," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(1), pages 141-157.
    18. Mai Chi Vu & Nicholas Burton, 2022. "Bring Your Non-self to Work? The Interaction Between Self-decentralization and Moral Reasoning," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(2), pages 427-449, November.
    19. In-Hye Kang & Taehoon Park, 2022. "Cultural Differences in Consumer Responses to Celebrities Acting Immorally: A Comparison of the United States and South Korea," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 373-389, September.
    20. Julie N. Y. Zhu & Long W. Lam & Yan Liu & Ning Jiang, 2023. "Performance Pressure and Employee Expediency: The Role of Moral Decoupling," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(2), pages 465-478, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:plo:pone00:0312930. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.