The Influence of Ethical Relativism on Ethical Compromise in Business Exchanges

摘要

In this research, we investigated the impact of ethical relativism on ethical compromise likelihood in managerial decision-making. We proposed that ethical relativism is positively related to ethical compromises in business exchanges. Specifically, ethical relativism lets a party in a reciprocal exchange relationship to advocate an ethically questionable or even unacceptable practice requested by the other party in the relationship. We also examined the role of environmental uncertainty as moderating factor in the ethical relativism-ethical compromise relationship. The results of an experiment with business professionals have yielded partial support for our hypotheses.