• Article

Case Study: Follow Dubious Orders or Speak Up?

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Matthew Preble

The article discusses an intern for the technology security company Zantech addressing her concerns about her boss in Seoul, South Korea, regarding an inappropriate suggestion on misrepresenting her identity. An overview of the ethical aspects of addressing her... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Labor and Management Relations; Organizational Culture

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Sucher, Sandra J., and Matthew Preble. "Case Study: Follow Dubious Orders or Speak Up?" Harvard Business Review 95, no. 4 (July–August 2017): 139–141.

• Article

Moral Traps: When Self-serving Attributions Backfire in Prosocial Behavior

By: Stephanie C. Lin, Julian Zlatev and Dale T. Miller

Two assumptions guide the current research. First, people's desire to see themselves as moral disposes them to make attributions that enhance or protect their moral self-image: When approached with a prosocial request, people are inclined to attribute their own... View Details

Keywords: Morality; Attributions; Decision Making; Prosocial Behavior; Moral Sensibility; Behavior; Perception

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Lin, Stephanie C., Julian Zlatev, and Dale T. Miller. "Moral Traps: When Self-serving Attributions Backfire in Prosocial Behavior." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 70 (May 2017): 198–203.

• March 2017
• Article

Why Do We Hate Hypocrites? Evidence for a Theory of False Signaling

By: Jillian J. Jordan, Roseanna Sommers, Paul Bloom and David G. Rand

Why do people judge hypocrites, who condemn immoral behaviors that they in fact engage in, so negatively? We propose that hypocrites are disliked because their condemnation sends a false signal about their personal conduct, deceptively suggesting that they behave... View Details

Keywords: Moral Psychology; Condemnation; Vignettes; Deception; Social Signaling; Open Data; Open Materials; Moral Sensibility; Behavior; Perception

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Jordan, Jillian J., Roseanna Sommers, Paul Bloom, and David G. Rand. "Why Do We Hate Hypocrites? Evidence for a Theory of False Signaling." Psychological Science 28, no. 3 (March 2017): 356–368.

• 2016
• Article

Vicarious Contagion Decreases Differentiation—and Comes with Costs

By: Ovul Sezer and Michael I. Norton

Baumeister et al. propose that individual differentiation is a crucial determinant of group success. We apply their model to processes lying in between the individual and the group—vicarious processes. We review literature in four domains—attitudes, emotions, moral... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Behavior; Groups and Teams; Attitudes; Emotions

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Sezer, Ovul, and Michael I. Norton. "Vicarious Contagion Decreases Differentiation—and Comes with Costs." Behavioral and Brain Sciences 39 (2016): e162.

• September 2016
• Article

Bounded Awareness: Implications for Ethical Decision Making

By: Max Bazerman and Ovul Sezer

In many of the business scandals of the new millennium, the perpetrators were surrounded by people who could have recognized the misbehavior, yet failed to notice it. To explain such inaction, management scholars have been developing the area of behavioral ethics and... View Details

Keywords: Ethics

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Bazerman, Max, and Ovul Sezer. "Bounded Awareness: Implications for Ethical Decision Making." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 136 (September 2016): 95–105.

• August 2016 (Revised May 2018)
• Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 1: Managing Organizational Tensions

By: Robert Simons

This module reading lays the foundation for executing strategy using performance measurement and control systems. Properly applied, these systems can overcome the organizational blocks that impede the potential of all people who work in modern organizations. This... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Strategy Execution; Performance Measurement; Profit Planning; Organization Design; Profitable Growth; Management Attention; Organizational Conflict; Human Behavior; Strategy; Ethics; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance; Measurement and Metrics

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Simons, Robert. "Strategy Execution Module 1: Managing Organizational Tensions." Harvard Business School Module Note 117-101, August 2016. (Revised May 2018.)

• Summer 2016
• Article

Motivated Bayesians: Feeling Moral While Acting Egoistically

By: Francesca Gino, Michael I. Norton and Roberto A. Weber

A growing body of research yields ample evidence that individuals’ behavior often reflects an apparent concern for moral considerations. Using a broad definition of morality—to include varied non-egoistic motivations such as fairness, honesty, and efficiency as... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Ethics

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Gino, Francesca, Michael I. Norton, and Roberto A. Weber. "Motivated Bayesians: Feeling Moral While Acting Egoistically." Journal of Economic Perspectives 30, no. 3 (Summer 2016): 189–212.

• 2016
• Teaching Note

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Shelly London and Ethics Education

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Tessa Natanay Hamilton and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Teaching Note for Case 313-028. Following a successful career as a Senior Vice President, Vice President, and Chief Communications Officer at two large corporate companies, Shelly London became a Harvard Advanced Leadership Fellow. During her fellowship she set out to... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Education; Moral Sensibility; Behavior; Decision Making; Leadership; Innovation and Management; Change Management; Social Enterprise; Education Industry; Service Industry; North and Central America

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Kanter, Rosabeth Moss, Tessa Natanay Hamilton, and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone. "Advanced Leadership Pathways: Shelly London and Ethics Education." Harvard Business Publishing Teaching Note, 2016. (Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative.)

• January 2016
• Article

Blind Loyalty?: How Group Loyalty Makes Us See Evil or Engage in It

By: John Angus D. Hildreth, Francesca Gino and Max Bazerman

Loyalty often drives corruption. Corporate scandals, political machinations, and sports cheating highlight how loyalty's pernicious nature manifests in collusion, conspiracy, cronyism, nepotism, and other forms of cheating. Yet loyalty is also touted as an ethical... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Groups and Teams

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Hildreth, John Angus D., Francesca Gino, and Max Bazerman. "Blind Loyalty? How Group Loyalty Makes Us See Evil or Engage in It." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 132 (January 2016): 16–36.

• Article

Ethical Blind Spots: Explaining Unintentional Unethical Behavior

By: Ovul Sezer, F. Gino and Max H. Bazerman

People view themselves as more ethical, fair, and objective than others, yet often act against their moral compass. This paper reviews recent research on unintentional unethical behavior and provides an overview of the conditions under which ethical blind spots lead... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Ethics; Decision Choices and Conditions

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Sezer, Ovul, F. Gino, and Max H. Bazerman. "Ethical Blind Spots: Explaining Unintentional Unethical Behavior." Special Issue on Morality and Ethics edited by Francesca Gino and Shaul Salvi. Current Opinion in Psychology 6 (December 2015): 77–81.

• Article

Conveniently Upset: Avoiding Altruism by Distorting Beliefs About Others' Altruism

By: Rafael Di Tella, Ricardo Perez-Truglia, Andres Babino and Mariano Sigman

We present results from a “corruption game” (a dictator game modified so that recipients can take a side payment in exchange for accepting a reduction in the overall size of the pie). Dictators (silently) treated to be able to take more of the recipient’s tokens, took... View Details

Keywords: Convenient Beliefs; Cognitive Dissonance; Values and Beliefs; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking

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Di Tella, Rafael, Ricardo Perez-Truglia, Andres Babino, and Mariano Sigman. "Conveniently Upset: Avoiding Altruism by Distorting Beliefs About Others' Altruism." American Economic Review 105, no. 11 (November 2015): 3416–3442.

• 2015
• Article

Beliefs About the True Self Explain Asymmetries Based on Moral Judgment

By: George E. Newman, Julian De Freitas and Joshua Knobe

Past research has identified a number of asymmetries based on moral judgments. Beliefs about (a) what a person values, (b) whether a person is happy, (c) whether a person has shown weakness of will, and (d) whether a person deserves praise or blame seem to depend... View Details

Keywords: Concepts; Social Cognition; Moral Reasoning; True Self; Values; Weakness Of Will; Blame; Values and Beliefs; Identity; Moral Sensibility; Happiness

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Newman, George E., Julian De Freitas, and Joshua Knobe. "Beliefs About the True Self Explain Asymmetries Based on Moral Judgment." Cognitive Science 39, no. 1 (2015): 96–125.

• October–December 2015
• Article

Reducing Bounded Ethicality: How to Help Individuals Notice and Avoid Unethical Behavior

By: Ting Zhang, Pinar O. Fletcher, Francesca Gino and Max H. Bazerman

Research on ethics has focused on the factors that help individuals act ethically when they are tempted to cheat. However, we know little about how best to help individuals notice unethical behaviors in others and in themselves. This paper identifies a solution:... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Management Skills; Behavior; Perception

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Zhang, Ting, Pinar O. Fletcher, Francesca Gino, and Max H. Bazerman. "Reducing Bounded Ethicality: How to Help Individuals Notice and Avoid Unethical Behavior." Special Issue on Bad Behavior. Organizational Dynamics 44, no. 4 (October–December 2015): 310–317.

• September 2015 (Revised January 2023)
• Background Note

Ethical Analysis: Situation versus Character

By: Nitin Nohria, Sandra J. Sucher, Joseph Badaracco and Bridget Gurtler

When we think of human behavior, especially from a moral perspective, we often rely on explanations based on character. We think that good decisions and responsible behavior require people with integrity and strong character and that immoral behavior originates within... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Behavior; Personal Characteristics; Power and Influence; Situation or Environment; Values and Beliefs; Social Psychology

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Nohria, Nitin, Sandra J. Sucher, Joseph Badaracco, and Bridget Gurtler. "Ethical Analysis: Situation versus Character." Harvard Business School Background Note 316-078, September 2015. (Revised January 2023.)