Cited by 422Ethics in Business and EducationPsychology of Moral and Emotional JudgmentEmotions and Moral Behavior

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Self-Serving Justifications: Doing Wrong and Feeling Moral

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Shalvi, Shaul, Gino, Francesca, Barkan, Rachel, Ayal, Shahar·2015·Current Directions in Psychological Science

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Abstract

Unethical behavior by “ordinary” people poses significant societal and personal challenges. We present a novel framework centered on the role of self-serving justification to build upon and advance the rapidly expanding research on intentional unethical behavior of people who value their morality highly. We propose that self-serving justifications emerging before and after people engage in intentional ethical violations mitigate the threat to the moral self, enabling them to do wrong while feeling moral. Pre-violation justifications lessen the anticipated threat to the moral self by redefining questionable behaviors as excusable. Post-violation justifications alleviate the experienced threat to the moral self through compensations that balance or lessen violations. We highlight the psychological mechanisms that prompt people to do wrong and feel moral, and suggest future research directions regarding the temporal dimension of self-serving justifications of ethical misconduct.

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Authors: Shalvi, S., Gino, F., Barkan, R., & Ayal, S.
Affiliations: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (IL)
Harvard Business School, Harvard University
Reichman University (IL)
ORCID: Shalvi, Shaul
Barkan, Rachel
Ayal, Shahar
Venue: Current Directions in Psychological Science
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2015-04
Volume: 24
Issue: 2
Pages: 125-130
ISSN: 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
1467-8721
DOI: 10.1177/0963721414553264
OpenAlex: W2097587915
Cited by: 422
References: 44
Citations by year: 2026: 31 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 50 · 2022: 48 · 2021: 44 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 37 · 2018: 40 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 15
FWCI: 70.12
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: bronze
doi.org
Licence: journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations: Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
Funders: European Commission (2007–2013, FP7 2007-2013, FP7/2007, 333745)
Research Executive Agency (FP7/2007-2013)
Topics: Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Ethics in Business and Education
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
Keywords: moral self, moral dissonance, moral licensing, moral compensation, moral self-presentation, ethical violations

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Self-Serving Justifications: Doing Wrong and Feeling Moral

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