Altruism as a pathway to unethical action

• Published date: 31 January 2020
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-09-2019-0156
• Pages: 235-247
• Date: 31 January 2020
• Author: Michael Babula,Max Tookey,Glenn Muschert,Mark Neal
• Subject Matter: Economics,Social economics

Altruism as a pathway to

unethical action

Michael Babula

Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Max Tookey

University of Brighton, Brighton, UK, and

Glenn Muschert and Mark Neal

Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to answerthe question, “Can particular types of altruism influence

people to make unethical decisions?”Thepurpose of seeking to answer this question is to better understand

those cases in personal,public and commercial life whereby a decision-maker is influencedby what is widely

perceivedto be a positive thing –altruism –to make unethical choices.

Design/methodology/approach –An experiment was designed to test the influence of different

categoriesof altruism on decision-making about whether to find another guilty for a regulatorytransgression.

This involved the establishmentand running of a student panel at a UK university, which was given the task

of determining the guilt or otherwiseof two students accused of plagiarism –one from a poor background;

one from a rich background. Through a survey of both the decision-makers and their judgments, and by

analyzing the data using t-tests and Mann–Whitney tests, the associations between different categories of

altruismand the decisions made could be ascertained.

Findings –A total of 70.7% of the participantsvoted “not-guilty”for the poor student, whereas68.3% voted

“guilty”for the wealthy student.This indicated that self-interested, namely, egoisticaltruism complemented

by social and self-esteem needs gratificationwas significantly associated with violating foundationalethical

principles.

Originality/value –This is the first study to be done that attempts to evaluate the relationshipsbetween

different categories of altruism and ethical decision-making. The findings here challenge aggregating all

forms of empathytogether when exploring the antecedents of unethicalbehavior.

Keywords Morality, Ethics, Personality, Altruism, Pro-social behaviour

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

The inspiration to conduct a research experiment often derives from everyday experience.

This study was inspired whenone of the researchers (herein referred to as the “victim”)was

making his way home via a routine bus route. Having exited the bus, he realized that his

iPhone was no longer in his possession. He went home and reportedthe event to the police.

Two female students at the local university spottedthe phone on the bus and took it with

them. They did not bother to turn it into the police or to remove the SIM card. Instead, their

first action was to use it to photograph themselves,evidently not realizing that every photo

was uploaded to the victim’s photo-library on his iPad via the iCloud account. The victim

immediately recognized the locationand reported it to the police, who quickly tracked down

the two alleged offenders. Embarrassedand apologetic, the students returned the phone and

urged the police not to press charges.The police officer decided to let them off.

Altruism as a

pathway

235

Received24 September 2019

Revised6 December 2019

Accepted6 December 2019

InternationalJournal of Ethics and

Systems

Vol.36 No. 2, 2020

pp. 235-247

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2514-9369

DOI 10.1108/IJOES-09-2019-0156

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