Does moral commitment predict resistance to corruption? experimental evidence from a bribery game

Corruption is ubiquitous in practice and has severe negative consequences for organizations and societies at large. Drawing on a laboratory experiment, we propose that individuals high in moral commitment are less likely to engage in corrupt behaviors and prefer foregoing financial benefits. Specifi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-01, Vol.17 (1), p.e0262201-e0262201
Main Authors: Tanner, Carmen, Linder, Stefan, Sohn, Matthias
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Behavior
Biology and Life Sciences
Bribery
Collaboration
Corruption
Demographic variables
Ethics
Female
Game Theory
Humans
Integrity
Male
Medical ethics
Morals
Power
Public officials
Research ethics
Science Policy
Social Sciences
Values
Young Adult
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Summary:Corruption is ubiquitous in practice and has severe negative consequences for organizations and societies at large. Drawing on a laboratory experiment, we propose that individuals high in moral commitment are less likely to engage in corrupt behaviors and prefer foregoing financial benefits. Specifically, we posit that individuals refrain from corruption (i) the more they endorse integrity (incorruptibility) as a protected value and (ii) the higher their level of Honesty-Humility. The results of a two-step experiment largely support our expectations: people who treat compromises to integrity as unacceptable were less willing to accept bribes, and Honesty-Humility decreased bribe-giving. The findings are robust to demographic variables (e.g., age, gender, cultural background) and additional personal characteristics (e.g., risk tolerance, dispositional greed) and have important implications for ongoing theory-building efforts and business practice.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0262201