Understanding Recidivism in the Aftermath of Wrongdoing

recidivism;morality;Management;Business and Economics;Business Administration

Ong, MadelineTost, Leigh Plunkett ;

University of Michigan

关键词: recidivism;    morality;    Management;    Business and Economics;    Business Administration;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/136948/ongm_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Behavioral ethics research generally suggests that after making a small transgression there is a ;;slippery slope” that leads people to make bigger transgressions in the future (Gino & Bazerman, 2009; Tenbrunsel & Messick, 2004). In contrast to this dominant lens, I am interested in how transgressors might change their behavior after committing an offense, instead of repeating their offenses or engaging in more serious offenses. Paper 1 consists of an archival study and an experiment that explore how transgressors’ evaluations of their past transgressions influence their likelihood of recidivism. Paper 2 consists of a series of five studies (i.e., one survey and four experiments) that explore how people’s beliefs about moral character influence their motivation to change in the aftermath of wrongdoing. Overall, my dissertation aims to makes several theoretical contributions. First, it contributes to the conversation on the downstream consequences of wrongdoing, complementing the existing literature’s focus on the antecedents of wrongdoing. Second, it adds to the emerging perspective that ethical judgments and decisions are person-centered (i.e., moral behaviors are used as cues to make evaluations about the person who performed those behaviors). This complements the existing literature’s behavioral or act-centered perspective. Finally, my dissertation draws attention to the positive change that transgressors can experience in the aftermath of wrongdoing.