Toward a Better Understanding of Behavioral Ethics in the Workplace

Posted: 9 Mar 2020

See all articles by David De Cremer

David De Cremer

University of Cambridge - Judge Business School; National University of Singapore (NUS) - NUS Business School

Celia Moore

Imperial College Business School; Harvard University - Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics

Date Written: January 2020

Abstract

The emerging field of behavioral ethics has attracted much attention from scholars across a range of different disciplines, including social psychology, management, behavioral economics, and law. However, how behavioral ethics is situated in relation to more traditional work on business ethics within organizational behavior (OB) has not really been discussed yet. Our primary objective is to bridge the different literatures on ethics within the broad field of OB, and we suggest a full-fledged approach that we refer to as behavioral business ethics. To do so, we review the foundations and research foci of business ethics and behavioral ethics. We structure our review on three levels: the intrapersonal level, interpersonal level, and organizational level. For each level, we provide relevant research examples and outline where more research efforts are needed. We conclude by recommending future research opportunities relevant to behavioral business ethics and discuss its practical implications.

Suggested Citation

De Cremer, David and Moore, Celia, Toward a Better Understanding of Behavioral Ethics in the Workplace (January 2020). Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Vol. 7, Issue 1, pp. 369-393, 2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3550387 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012218-015151

David De Cremer (Contact Author)

University of Cambridge - Judge Business School ( email )

Trumpington Street
Cambridge, CB2 1AG
United Kingdom

National University of Singapore (NUS) - NUS Business School ( email )

1 Business Link
Singapore, 117592
Singapore

Celia Moore

Imperial College Business School ( email )

South Kensington Campus
Exhibition Road
London, Greater London SW7 2AZ
United Kingdom

Harvard University - Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics ( email )

124 Mount Auburn Street
Suite 520N
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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