RT Article
T1 Preventing disclosure-induced moral licensing: evidence from the boardroom
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 187
IS 4
SP 841
OP 857
A1 Canace, Thomas G.
A1 Salzsieder, Leigh
A1 Schaefer, Tammie J.
LA English
PB Springer Science + Business Media B. V
YR 2023
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1868814904
AB Market participants continue to demand greater transparency from boards of directors, yet little is known about the effect of increased transparency on director decisions. Using a sample of practicing board members, our first experiment provides evidence that increased transparency via disclosure may license directors to make more biased decisions. Guided by rich insights provided by these directors, we examine whether considering a company's ethical values can deter disclosure-induced licensing by activating a morality mindset. In two additional experiments, we find that exposure to a code of conduct that includes an ethics component does not mitigate the licensing effects we observed; however, considering a separate, concise ethics statement does mitigate these effects. Our findings highlight important differences between the code of conduct and ethics statement for decision-making which can help organizations to mitigate adverse effects of disclosure. Implications for users of financial information and regulators are also discussed.
K1 code of conduct
K1 Corporate Governance
K1 Directors
K1 Disclosure
K1 Ethics
K1 Moral license
K1 Aufsatz in Zeitschrift
DO 10.1007/s10551-022-05226-7