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Contribution Details

Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title The limits to moral erosion in markets: Social norms and the replacement excuse
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Björn Bartling
  • Yagiz Özdemir
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Games and Economic Behavior
Publisher Elsevier
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 0899-8256
Volume 138
Page Range 143 - 160
Date 2023
Abstract Text 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.
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Digital Object Identifier 10.1016/j.geb.2022.12.001
Other Identification Number merlin-id:23112
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Keywords Economics and Econometrics, Finance / Replacement excuse, social norms, moral behavior, competition, markets, utilitarianism, deontological ethics, Geschäftsidee, Unternehmensethik, Soziale Norm, Utilitarismus, Moralisches Handeln