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Effects of Implicit Negotiation Beliefs and Moral Disengagement on Negotiator Attitudes and Deceptive Behavior

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Abstract

In three studies, we examined the relationship between implicit negotiation beliefs, moral disengagement, and a negotiator’s ethical attitudes and behavior. Study 1 found correlations between an entity theory that negotiation skills are fixed rather than malleable, moral disengagement, and appropriateness of marginally ethical negotiation tactics. Mediation analysis supported a model in which moral disengagement facilitated the relationship between entity theory and support for unethical tactics. Study 2 provided additional support for the mediation model in a sample of MBA students, whereby predispositions to morally disengage mediated the effect of dispositional entity beliefs on unethical behavior in a negotiation exercise. In study 3, we manipulated implicit beliefs prior to a negotiation simulation and found that entity beliefs predict deception through two sequential mediators, extreme opening bids and state moral disengagement.

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  1. Schulich School of Business, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada

    Kevin Tasa & Chris M. Bell

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  1. Kevin Tasa
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Correspondence to Kevin Tasa.

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The data collection procedures reported in this manuscript were approved by the York University Ethics Review Committee. Informed consent was obtained by all human subjects, in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki.

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Tasa, K., Bell, C.M. Effects of Implicit Negotiation Beliefs and Moral Disengagement on Negotiator Attitudes and Deceptive Behavior. J Bus Ethics 142, 169–183 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2800-4

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