No Harm, No Foul: The Outcome Bias in Ethical Judgments

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5893.html
Authors: Gino, Francesca; Moore, Don A.; Bazerman, Max H.
Source: Harvard Business School
Year: 2008

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Abstract:

Too often, workers are evaluated based on results rather than on the quality of the decision. Given that most consequential business decisions involve some uncertainty, the upshot is that organizations wind up rewarding luck rather than wisdom. From a rational decision-making perspective, people's decisions should be evaluated based on the information the decision maker had available to him or her at the time, and not based on the ultimate results. This paper tests predictions about this effect, known as the outcome bias, in two studies in which participants were asked to consider various ethically questionable behaviors. Participants were also given information about the outcome of such behaviors and were asked to rate the ethicality of the described actions with or without the outcome information.