1. The limits to moral erosion in markets: Social norms and the replacement excuse.
- Author
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Bartling, Björn and Özdemir, Yagiz
- Subjects
- *
SOCIAL norms , *SOCIAL marketing , *EXCUSES , *MORAL reasoning , *DEONTOLOGICAL ethics , *EROSION - Abstract
This paper studies the impact of a key feature of competitive markets on moral behavior: the possibility that a competitor might step in and conclude the deal if a conscientious market actor forgoes a profitable business opportunity for ethical reasons. In a series of experiments, we study whether people invoke the replacement excuse, that is, the argument "if I don't do it, someone else will," to justify narrowly self-interested actions. Our data are consistent with the possibility that the existence of a clear social norm of moral conduct can limit the impact of the availability of the replacement excuse on behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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