Buying unethical loyalty: A behavioral paradigm and empirical test
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Buying unethical loyalty: A behavioral paradigm and empirical test. / Thielmann, Isabel; Böhm, Robert; Hilbig, Benjamin E.
In: Social Psychological and Personality Science, Vol. 12, No. 3, 2021, p. 363-370 .Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Buying unethical loyalty: A behavioral paradigm and empirical test
AU - Thielmann, Isabel
AU - Böhm, Robert
AU - Hilbig, Benjamin E.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Unethical behavior is often accompanied by others covering up a transgressor’s actions. We devised a novel behavioral paradigm, the Unethical Loyalty Game (ULG), to study individuals’ willingness to lie to cover up others’ dishonesty. Specifically, we examined (i) whether and to what extent individuals are willing to lie to cover up others’ unethical behavior, (ii) whether this unethical loyalty depends on the benefits (bribe) at stake, and (iii) whether trait Honesty–Humility accounts for interindividual variability in unethical loyalty. In a fully incentivized experiment (N = 288), we found a high prevalence of lying to cover up others’ unethical behavior, which increased with increasing bribes. In turn, unethical loyalty decreased with individuals’ Honesty–Humility levels. Overall, the findings show that most but not all individuals are corruptible to disguise others’ transgressions. Future research using the ULG can help to further illuminate (the determinants of) this prevalent type of unethical behavior.
AB - Unethical behavior is often accompanied by others covering up a transgressor’s actions. We devised a novel behavioral paradigm, the Unethical Loyalty Game (ULG), to study individuals’ willingness to lie to cover up others’ dishonesty. Specifically, we examined (i) whether and to what extent individuals are willing to lie to cover up others’ unethical behavior, (ii) whether this unethical loyalty depends on the benefits (bribe) at stake, and (iii) whether trait Honesty–Humility accounts for interindividual variability in unethical loyalty. In a fully incentivized experiment (N = 288), we found a high prevalence of lying to cover up others’ unethical behavior, which increased with increasing bribes. In turn, unethical loyalty decreased with individuals’ Honesty–Humility levels. Overall, the findings show that most but not all individuals are corruptible to disguise others’ transgressions. Future research using the ULG can help to further illuminate (the determinants of) this prevalent type of unethical behavior.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - unethical loyalty
KW - cover-up
KW - dishonesty
KW - bribing
KW - Honesty–Humility
U2 - 10.1177/1948550620905218
DO - 10.1177/1948550620905218
M3 - Journal article
VL - 12
SP - 363
EP - 370
JO - Social Psychological and Personality Science
JF - Social Psychological and Personality Science
SN - 1948-5506
IS - 3
ER -
ID: 241313451