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Responses to Corporate Versus Individual Wrongdoing

Responses to Corporate Versus Individual Wrongdoing For many years, researchers assumed that the public was indifferent to corporate wrongdoing, but recent surveys have discovered evidence to the contrary. Taking insights from these data a step further, this study employed an experimental design to examine whether people responded differently to corporate versus individual wrongdoers. We varied the identity of the central actor in a scenario involving harm to workers. Half the respondents were informed that a corporation caused the harm; the remainder were told that an individual did so. Respondents applied a higher standard of responsibility to the corporate actor. For identical actions, the corporation was judged as more reckless and more morally wrong than the individual. Respondents’ judgments of the greater recklessness of the corporation led them to recommend higher civil and criminal penalties against the corporation. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Law and Human Behavior American Psychological Association

Responses to Corporate Versus Individual Wrongdoing

Hans, Valerie P.; Ermann, M. David
Law and Human Behavior , Volume 13 (2): 16 – Jun 1, 1989
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References (34)

Publisher
American Psychological Association
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 American Psychological Association
ISSN
0147-7307
eISSN
1573-661X
DOI
10.1007/BF01055921
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

For many years, researchers assumed that the public was indifferent to corporate wrongdoing, but recent surveys have discovered evidence to the contrary. Taking insights from these data a step further, this study employed an experimental design to examine whether people responded differently to corporate versus individual wrongdoers. We varied the identity of the central actor in a scenario involving harm to workers. Half the respondents were informed that a corporation caused the harm; the remainder were told that an individual did so. Respondents applied a higher standard of responsibility to the corporate actor. For identical actions, the corporation was judged as more reckless and more morally wrong than the individual. Respondents’ judgments of the greater recklessness of the corporation led them to recommend higher civil and criminal penalties against the corporation.

Journal

Law and Human Behavior – American Psychological Association

Published: Jun 1, 1989

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