The Effects of Unstructured Group Discussion on Ethical Judgment

Abstract

The authors examine the effects of shared information and group discussion on ethical judgment when no structure is imposed on the discussion to encourage ethical considerations. Discussants were asked to identify arguments for and against a variety of business behaviors with ethical implications. A group moderator solicited and recorded arguments for and against the behaviors but provided no evaluation of the arguments presented or the behaviors described. Discussion group subjects were significantly less critical of profit-driven business behaviors than a control group, and were also less critical of self-interest-driven behaviors when those behaviors did not appear to adversely affect profits.

Keywords:

• discussion and ethics
• ethical judgment
• ethics education