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Conflicts of interest: The ethical viewpoint

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  • Argandoña, Antonio

    (IESE Business School)

Abstract

Conflicts of interest are a very widespread ethical problem which, precisely for that reason, deserves special attention, both from a legal viewpoint and from the point of view of ethics applied to organizations and professions. In this paper we use the conceptual framework of agency theory to explain what constitutes a conflict of interest. This enables us to identify what causes conflicts of interest and analyze the ethical criteria to be applied to them and the solutions commonly proposed. Because our processing of information, our judgments and our decision making are subject to significant unconscious and unintended biases, the emphasis in this paper is on the conditions that an agent's decision must satisfy in a conflict of interest situation in order to be ethically correct.

Suggested Citation

  • Argandoña, Antonio, 2004. "Conflicts of interest: The ethical viewpoint," IESE Research Papers D/552, IESE Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0552
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    File URL: http://www.iese.edu/research/pdfs/DI-0552-E.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Simunic, Da, 1984. "Auditing, Consulting, And Auditor Independence," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 679-702.
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    Cited by:

    1. Argandoña, Antonio, 2009. "Can corporate social responsibility help us understand the credit crisis?," IESE Research Papers D/790, IESE Business School.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    agency theory; agent; conflict interest; corruption; ethics professions;
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