Skip to main content

“It’s Just Business”: Understanding How Business Frames Differ from Ethical Frames and the Effect on Unethical Behavior

Journal of Business Ethics volume 176, pages 429–449 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Unfortunately, business is often associated with unethical behavior. While research has offered a number of explanations for why business might encourage unethical behavior, we argue that how a person frames a situation may provide important insight. Drawing on the decision frame literature, the goal of the current research is to identify the differences in cognitive processing associated with two decision frames dominant in the business ethics literature—business and ethical—and, with that knowledge, examine ways to mitigate the detrimental influence of frame on unethical behavior. We first demonstrate the causal link between frame and misrepresentation (Study 1), and then identify several differences in cognitive processing—cost–benefit analyses, concern for others, and construal level—that distinguish business and ethical frames, and investigate their effects on misrepresentation (Study 2). In our final set of studies (Studies 3a–c), we demonstrate that the influence of these frames on misrepresentation can be altered by manipulating these cognitive processes, both mitigating and exacerbating a decision maker’s engagement in misrepresentation. We conclude by summarizing our findings and their potential impact on unethical behavior more broadly.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Notes

  1. We included a hypothesis related to concern for self (e.g., that individuals also focused on themselves more in a business frame than an ethical frame) in previous versions of the manuscript. However, we found no support for this hypothesis in the earliest studies conducted for this paper (none of the studies in which we included this variable as a study measure are included in the current manuscript). As we have conducted new studies to address limitations of previous studies, we chose not to include the hypothesis of a relationship between frame and concern for the self in the final manuscript given the lack of effects.

  2. We did not include control variables in our analyses. We did, however, conduct additional analyses controlling for moral identity, gender, and age as exploratory analyses given that previous research has demonstrated that these individual characteristics are often associated with unethical behavior (O’Fallon and Butterfield 2005; Shao et al. 2008). Across all studies, moral identity and gender were not significantly related with our dependent variable of interest, magnitude of misrepresentation. Age was significantly associated with misrepresentation only in Study 1, but did not affect the significance of the relationship between decision frame and misrepresentation.

  3. In addition to showing the link between externally manipulated frames and their respective cognitive processes, we also have an additional study showing that when people generate their own characterization of decisions made in a given frame, they associate the proposed cognitive processes with each respective frame. For more information about these findings, please contact the first author.

  4. We pretested this manipulation in a sample of 100 participants on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Participants’ responses were content coded by two coders for each of the three cognitive processes argued to be associated with business and ethical frames. A value of 1 represented no discussion of the process and a value of 7 represented the response being dominated by the cognitive process. Findings showed that those who adopted a business frame discussed cost–benefit analyses more than those in an ethical frame, F(1, 96) = 20.94, p < .001. The content coding also revealed that those in an ethical frame discussed more concern for others, F(1, 96) = 18.56, p < .001, and adopted a higher construal level, F(1, 96) = 28.88, p < .001, than those in a business frame. For more information about these findings, please contact the first author.

References

  • Abela, J. V., & Shea, R. (2015). Avoiding the separation thesis while maintaining a positive/normative distinction. Journal of Business Ethics, 131, 31–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Agerström, J., & Björklund, F. (2009a). Moral concerns are greater for temporally distant events and are moderated by value strength. Social Cognition, 27(2), 261–282.

    Google Scholar 

  • Agerström, J., & Björklund, F. (2009b). Temporal distance and moral concerns: Future morally questionable behavior is perceived as more wrong and evokes stronger prosocial intentions. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 31(1), 49–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aguinis, H. (2011). Organizational responsibility: Doing good and doing well. In S. Zedeck (Ed.), APA handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 855–879). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, C. A., Lindsay, J. L., & Bushman, J. (1999). Research in the psychological laboratory: Truth or triviality? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8, 3–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aquino, K., & Reed, A., II. (2002). The self-importance of moral identity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), 1423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arieli, S., Sagiv, L., & Cohen-Shalem, E. (2016). Values in business schools: The role of self-selection and socialization. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 15(3), 493–507.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashforth, B. E., & Anand, V. (2003). The normalization of corruption in organizations. In R. M. Kramer & B. M. Staw (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 25, pp. 1–52). Oxford: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baird, I. S., & Thomas, H. (1985). Toward a contingency model of strategic risk taking. Academy of Management Review, 10(2), 230–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bandura, A. (1999). Moral disengagement in the perpetration of inhumanities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 193–209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Batson, C. D., & Moran, T. (1999). Empathy-induced altruism in a prisoner’s dilemma. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 909–924.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumer, E. P., Polletta, F., Pierski, N., & Gay, G. K. (2017). A simple intervention to reduce framing effects in perceptions of global climate change. Environmental Communication, 11(3), 289–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belmi, P., & Pfeffer, J. (2015). How “organization” can weaken the norm of reciprocity: The effects of attributions for favors and a calculative mindset. Academy of Management Discoveries, 1(1), 36–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, V., Pierce, L., Snyder, J., & Toffel, M. (2013). Customer-driven misconduct: How competition corrupts business practices. Management Science, 59(8), 1725–1742.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burgoon, E. M., Henderson, M. D., & Markman, A. B. (2013). There are many ways to see the forest for the trees: A tour guide for abstraction. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(5), 501–520.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burrus, J., & Roese, N. J. (2006). Long ago it was meant to be: The interplay between time, construal, and fate beliefs. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(8), 1050–1058.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butterfield, K. D., Treviño, L. K., & Weaver, G. R. (2000). Moral awareness in business organizations: Influences of issue-related and social context factors. Human Relations, 53(7), 981–1018.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chugh, D., Bazerman, M. H., & Banaji, M. R. (2005). Bounded ethicality as a psychological barrier to recognizing conflicts of interest. In D. A. Moore, D. M. Cain, G. F. Lowenstein, & M. H. Bazerman (Eds.), Conflicts of interest: Challenges and solutions in business, law, medicine, and public policy (pp. 74–95). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chwang, E. (2016). Consent’s been framed: When framing effects invalidate consent and how to validate it again. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 33(3), 270–285.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, V. P. (2003). Lying for strategic advantage: Rational and boundedly rational misrepresentation of intentions. American Economic Review, 93(1), 133–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cushman, F., Young, L., & Hauser, M. (2006). The role of conscious reasoning and intuition in moral judgment: Testing three principles of harm. Psychological Science, 17, 1082–1089.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Dreu, C. K., Evers, A., Beersma, B., Kluwer, E. S., & Nauta, A. (2001). A theory-based measure of conflict management strategies in the workplace. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 22(6), 645–668.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Dreu, C. K. W., Giacomantonio, M., Shalvi, S., & Sligte, D. (2009). Getting stuck or stepping back: Effects of obstacles and construal level in the negotiation of creative solutions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 542–548.

    Google Scholar 

  • DePaulo, B. M., & Kashy, D. A. (1998). Everyday lies in close and casual relations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(1), 63–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunegan, K. J. (1993). Framing, cognitive modes, and image theory: Toward an understanding of a glass half full. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(3), 491–503.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duska, R. (2000). Business ethics: Oxymoron or good business? Business Ethics Quarterly, 10(1), 111–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eyal, T., & Liberman, N. (2011). Morality and psychological distance: A construal level theory perspective. In M. Mikulincer & P. R. Shavers (Eds.), The social psychology of morality: Exploring the causes of good and evil (pp. 185–202). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eyal, T., Liberman, N., & Trope, Y. (2008). Judging near and distant virtue and vice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 1204–1209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eyal, T., Sagristano, M. D., Trope, Y., Liberman, N., & Chaiken, S. (2009). When values matter: Expressing values in behavioral intentions for the near vs. distant future. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45, 35–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferraro, F., Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. I. (2005). Economics language and assumptions: How theories can become self-fulfilling. Academy of Management Review, 30(1), 8–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiske, A. P. (1992). The four elementary forms of sociality: framework for a unified theory of social relations. Psychological Review, 99(4), 689–723.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1991). Social cognition (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Förster, J., Friedman, R., & Liberman, N. (2004). Temporal construal effects on abstract and concrete thinking: Consequences for insight and creative cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 177–189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank, R. H., Gilovich, T., & Regan, D. T. (1993). Does studying economics inhibit cooperative behavior? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 7(2), 159–171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank, B., & Schulze, G. G. (2000). Does economics make citizens corrupt? Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 43, 101–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu, L., Yu, J., Ni, S., & Li, H. (2018). Reduced framing effect: Experience adjusts affective forecasting with losses. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 76, 231–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fujita, K., Trope, Y., Liberman, N., & Levin-Sagi, M. (2006). Construal levels and self-control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(3), 351–367.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galperin, B. L., Bennett, R. J., & Aquino, K. (2011). Status differentiation and the protean self: A social-cognitive model of unethical behavior in organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 98(3), 407–424.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerend, M. A., & Cullen, M. (2008). Effects of message framing and temporal context on college student drinking behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(4), 1167–1173.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghoshal, S. (2005). Bad management theories are destroying good management processes. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 4(1), 75–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gino, F., & Pierce, L. (2009). Dishonesty in the name of equity. Psychological Science, 20(9), 1153–1160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gino, F., Shu, L. L., & Bazerman, M. H. (2010). Nameless + harmless = blameless: When seemingly irrelevant factors influence judgment of (un)ethical behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 111, 93–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. New York: Harper Colophon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, J., Nosek, B. A., Haidt, J., Iyer, R., Koleva, S., & Ditto, P. H. (2011). Mapping the moral domain. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(2), 366–385.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant, A. M., Campbell, E. M., Chen, G., Cottone, K., Lapedis, D., & Lee, K. (2007). Impact and the art of motivation maintenance: The effects of contact with beneficiaries on persistence behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 103, 53–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guess, G. M., & Farnham, P. G. (2000). Cases in public policy analysis. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo, L., Trueblood, J. S., & Diederich, A. (2017). Thinking fast increases framing effects in risky decision making. Psychological Science, 28(4), 530–543.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haidt, J., & Graham, J. (2007). When morality opposes justice: Conservatives have moral intuitions that liberals may not recognize. Social Justice Research, 20(1), 98–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haidt, J., & Joseph, C. (2004). Intuitive ethics: How innately prepared intuitions generate culturally variable virtues. Daedalus, Fall, 55–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, J. D., & Freeman, R. E. (2008). On the impossibility of the separation thesis. Business Ethics Quarterly, 18(4), 541–548.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, A. F. (2009). Beyond Baron and Kenny: Statistical mediation analysis in the new millennium. Communication Monographs, 76, 408–420.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • He, Y., Zhang, J., Zhou, Y., & Yang, Z. (2019). “Monkey see, monkey do?”: The effect of construal level on consumers’ reactions to others’ unethical behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 156(2), 455–472.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodgkinson, G. P., Maule, A. J., Bown, N. J., Pearman, A. D., & Glaister, K. W. (2002). Further reflections on the elimination of framing bias in strategic decision making. Strategic Management Journal, 23(11), 1069–1076.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, E., McCabe, K., Shachat, K., & Smith, V. (1994). Preferences, property rights, and anonymity in bargaining games. Games and Economic Behavior, 7(3), 346–380.

    Google Scholar 

  • Honig, B. (2004). Entrepreneurship education: Toward a model of contingency-based business planning. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 3(3), 258–273.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janoff-Bulman, R., Sheikh, S., & Hepp, S. (2009). Proscriptive versus prescriptive morality: Two faces of moral regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(3), 521–537.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, T. M. (1991). Ethical decision making by individuals in organizations: An issue-contingent model. Academy of Management Review, 16(2), 366–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J. L., & Thaler, R. H. (1986). Fairness and the assumptions of economics. Journal of Business, 59(4), S285–S300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, P. C., & Elm, D. (2003). The effect of context on moral intensity of ethical issues: Revising Jones’s issue-contingent model. Journal of Business Ethics, 48, 139–154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kern, M. C., & Chugh, D. (2009). Bounded ethicality: The perils of loss framing. Psychological Science, 20(3), 378–384.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keysar, B., Hayakawa, S. L., & An, S. G. (2012). The foreign-language effect: Thinking in a foreign tongue reduces decision biases. Psychological Science, 23(6), 661–668.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kish-Gephart, J., Detert, J., Treviño, L. K., Baker, V., & Martin, S. (2014). Situational moral disengagement: Can the effects of self-interest be mitigated? Journal of Business Ethics, 125(2), 267–285.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kivetz, Y., & Tyler, T. (2007). Tomorrow I’ll be me: The effect of time perspective on the activation of idealistic versus pragmatic selves. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 102, 193–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L. (1969). Stage and sequence: The cognitive developmental approach to socialization. In D. A. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of socialization theory (pp. 347–480). Chicago: Rand McNally.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kouchaki, M., Smith-Crowe, K., Brief, A. P., & Sousa, C. (2013). Seeing green: Mere exposure to money triggers a business frame and unethical outcomes. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 121(1), 53–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kristiansen, C. M., & Hotte, A. (1996). Morality and the self: Implications for the when and how of value–attitude–behavior relations. In C. Seligman, J. M. Olson, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), The psychology of values: The Ontario symposium. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff, G. (2002). Moral politics: How liberals and conservatives think (2nd ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawson, R. A. (2004). Is classroom cheating related to business students’ propensity to cheat in the “real world”? Journal of Business Ethics, 49, 189–199.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levitt, S. D., & List, J. A. (2007). What do laboratory experiments measuring social preferences reveal about the real world? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(2), 153–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levine, E. E., & Schweitzer, M. E. (2014). Are liars ethical? On the tension between benevolence and honesty. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 53, 107–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li-Ping Tang, T., Chen, Y., & Sutarso, T. (2008). Bad apples in bad (business) barrels. Management Decision, 46(2), 243–263.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magee, J. C., & Smith, P. K. (2014). The social distance theory of power. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 17(2), 158–186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malhotra, D., & Gino, F. (2011). The pursuit of power corrupts: How investing in outside options motivates opportunism in relationships. Administrative Science Quarterly, 56, 559–592.

    Google Scholar 

  • March, J. G. (1994). A primer on decision making. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (2006). The logic of appropriateness. In M. Rein, M. Moran, & R. E. Goodin (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of public policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazar, N., Amir, O., & Ariely, D. (2008). The dishonesty of honest people: A theory of self-concept maintenance. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(6), 633–644.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCabe, D. L., Dukerich, J. M., & Dutton, J. E. (1991). Contexts, values, and moral dilemmas: Comparing the choices of business and law students. Journal of Business Ethics, 10(12), 951–960.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLean, P. A., & Jones, D. B. (1992). Machiavellianism and business education. Psychological Reports, 71(10), 57–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messick, D. M. (1999). Alternative logics for decision making in social settings. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 39(1), 11–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messick, D. M., & Bazerman, M. H. (1996). Ethics for the 21st century: A decision making approach. Sloan Management Review, 37, 9–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mikulincer, M., Shaver, P. R., Gillath, O., & Nitzberg, R. A. (2005). Attachment, caregiving, and altruism: Boosting attachment security increases compassion and helping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(5), 817.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. T. (1999). The norm of self-interest. American Psychologist, 54(12), 1053–1060.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mogilner, C., & Aaker, J. (2009). The time vs. money effect: Shifting product attitudes and decisions through personal connection. Journal of Consumer Research, 36, 277–291.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulder, L. B., Jordan, J., & Rink, F. (2015). The effect of specific and general rules on ethical decisions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 126, 115–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Public Radio. (January 11, 2016). ‘We didn’t lie,’ Volkswagen CEO says of emissions scandal. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/11/462682378/we-didnt-lie-volkswagen-ceo-says-of-emissions-scandal.

  • O’Fallon, M. J., & Butterfield, K. D. (2005). A review of the empirical ethical decision-making literature: 1996–2003. Journal of Business Ethics, 59(4), 375–413.

    Google Scholar 

  • Overbeck, J. R., & Park, B. (2001). When power does not corrupt: Superior individuation processes among powerful perceivers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(4), 549–565.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pillutla, M. M., & Chen, X. P. (1999). Social norms and cooperation in social dilemmas: The effects of context and feedback. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 78(2), 81–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prezenski, S., Brechmann, A., Wolff, S., & Russwinkel, N. (2017). A cognitive modeling approach to strategy formation in dynamic decision making. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1335.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rai, T. S., & Fiske, A. P. (2011). Moral psychology is relationship regulation: Moral motives for unity, hierarchy, equality, and proportionality. Psychological Review, 118(1), 57–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rest, J. R. (1986). Moral development: Advances in research and theory. New York: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, S. J. (2006). A neurocognitive model of the ethical decision-making process: Implications for study and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(4), 737–748.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, S. J. (2008). Moral attentiveness: Who pays attention to the moral aspects of life? Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(5), 1027–1041.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, S. J., Leavitt, K., & DeCelles, K. A. (2010). Automatic ethics: The effect of implicit assumptions and contextual cues on moral behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(4), 752–760.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reyt, J. N., & Wiesenfeld, B. M. (2015). Seeing the forest for the Trees: Exploratory learning, mobile technology, and knowledge workers’ role integration behaviors. Academy of Management Journal, 58(3), 739–762.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reyt, J. N., Wiesenfeld, B. M., & Trope, Y. (2016). Big picture is better: The social implications of construal level for advice taking. Organizational Behavior and Human Decisions Processes, 135, 22–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandberg, J. (2008). Understanding the separation thesis. Business Ethics Quarterly, 18(2), 213–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shao, R., Aquino, K., & Freeman, D. (2008). Beyond moral reasoning: A review of moral identity research and its implications for business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 18(4), 513–540.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sieck, W., & Yates, J. F. (1997). Exposition effects on decision making: Choice and confidence in choice. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 70(3), 207–219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Small, D. A., Loewenstein, G., & Slovic, P. (2006). Sympathy and callousness: The impact of deliberative thought on donations to identifiable and statistical victims. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 102, 143–153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith-Crowe, K., & Zhang, T. (2016). On taking the theoretical substance of outcomes seriously: A meta-conversation. In D. Palmer, K. Smith-Crowe, & R. Greenwood (Eds.), Organizational wrongdoing: Key perspectives and new directions (pp. 17–46). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Song, F., & Zhong, C. B. (2015). You scratch his back, he scratches mine and I’ll scratch yours: Deception in simultaneous cyclic networks. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 112, 98–111.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinel, W., & De Dreu, C. K. (2004). Social motives and strategic misrepresentation in social decision making. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86(3), 419–434.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takezawa, M., Gummerum, M., & Keller, M. (2006). A stage for the rational tail of the emotional dog: Roles of moral reasoning in group decision making. Journal of Economic Psychology, 27, 117–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanner, C., Medin, D., & Iliev, R. (2008). Influence of deontological versus consequentialist orientations on act choices and framing effects: When principles are more important than consequences. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 757–769.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tenbrunsel, A. E., Diekmann, K. A., Wade-Benzoni, K. A., & Bazerman, M. H. (2010). The ethical mirage: A temporal explanation as to why we are not as ethical as we think we are. Research in Organizational Behavior, 30, 153–173.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tenbrunsel, A. E., & Messick, D. M. (1999). Sanctioning systems, decision frames, and cooperation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44, 684–707.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tenbrunsel, A. E., & Messick, D. M. (2004). Ethical fading: The role of self-deception in unethical behavior. Social Justice Research, 17(2), 223–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tenbrunsel, A. E., & Smith-Crowe, K. (2008). Ethical decision-making: Where we’ve been and where we’re going. Academy of Management Annals, 2(1), 545–607.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, A. K., & Millar, P. R. (2011). Reducing the framing effect in older and younger adults by encouraging analytic processing. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 67(2), 139–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tost, L. P., Gino, F., & Larrick, R. P. (2013). When power makes others speechless: The negative impact of leader power on team performance. Academy of Management Journal, 56(5), 1465–1486.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treviño, L. K., Weaver, G. R., & Reynolds, S. J. (2006). Behavioral ethics in organizations: A review. Journal of Management, 32(6), 951–990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2003). Temporal construal. Psychological Review, 110, 403–421.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2010). Construal-level theory of psychological distance. Psychological Review, 117(2), 440–463.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trope, Y., Liberman, N., & Wakslak, C. (2007). Construal levels and psychological distance: Effects on representation, prediction, evaluation, and behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17(2), 83–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Leeuwen, E., & Täuber, S. (2012). Outgroup helping as a tool to communicate ingroup warmth. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(6), 772–783.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vohs, K. D., Mead, N. L., & Goode, M. R. (2006). The psychological consequences of money. Science, 314, 1154–1156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, J. P. (1995). Managerial and organizational cognition: Notes from a trip down memory lane. Organization Science, 6(3), 280–321.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, J. P., Weber, K., & Margolis, J. D. (2003). Social issues and management: Our lost cause found. Journal of Management, 29(6), 859–881.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, L., Malhotra, D., & Murnighan, J. K. (2011). Economics education and greed. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 10(4), 643–660.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, L., Zhong, C. B., & Murnighan, J. K. (2014). The social and ethical consequences of a calculative mindset. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 125, 39–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weaver, G. R., & Treviño, L. K. (1994). Normative and empirical business ethics: Separation, marriage of convenience, or marriage of necessity? Business Ethics Quarterly, 4(2), 129–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M., Kopelman, S., & Messick, D. M. (2004). A conceptual review of decision making in social dilemmas: Applying a logic of appropriateness. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 281–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weinstein, B. (January 9, 2016). Business executives get an ‘F’ in ethics yet again. Fortune. http://fortune.com/2016/01/09/ethics-business-leaders-gallup/.

  • Yip, J. A., & Schweitzer, M. E. (2016). Mad and misleading: Incidental anger promotes deception. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 137, 207–217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yip, J. A., Schweitzer, M. E., & Nurmohamed, S. (2018). Trash-talking: Competitive incivility motivates rivalry, performance, and unethical behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 144, 125–144.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, 75205, USA

    McKenzie R. Rees

  2. Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

    Ann E. Tenbrunsel

  3. David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA

    Kristina A. Diekmann

Authors
  1. McKenzie R. Rees
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ann E. Tenbrunsel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kristina A. Diekmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to McKenzie R. Rees.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

All procedures in this research involving human participants were in accordance with the Ethical Standards of the Institutional and/or National Research Committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained anonymously from all participants in accordance with the standards of the institution.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rees, M.R., Tenbrunsel, A.E. & Diekmann, K.A. “It’s Just Business”: Understanding How Business Frames Differ from Ethical Frames and the Effect on Unethical Behavior. J Bus Ethics 176, 429–449 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04729-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04729-5

Keywords

  • Ethical decision-making frames
  • Cost–benefit analysis
  • Concern for others
  • Construal level