Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • April 2015
  • Article
  • Current Directions in Psychological Science

Self-serving Justifications: Doing Wrong and Feeling Moral

By: Shaul Shalvi, F. Gino, Rachel Barkan and Shahar Ayal
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

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 by 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.

Keywords

Motivation and Incentives; Moral Sensibility

Citation

Shalvi, Shaul, F. Gino, Rachel Barkan, and Shahar Ayal. "Self-serving Justifications: Doing Wrong and Feeling Moral." Current Directions in Psychological Science 24, no. 2 (April 2015): 125–130.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

Francesca Gino

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • Harvard Business Review

    Managing a Polarized Workforce: How to Foster Debate and Promote Trust

    By: Julia A. Minson and Francesca Gino
    • January 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Institutionalized Entrepreneurship: Flagship Pioneering

    By: Gary Pisano and Francesca Gino
    • January 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Strategic Agility: Lessons from the Game of Poker

    By: Francesca Gino and Gary Pisano
More from the Authors
  • Managing a Polarized Workforce: How to Foster Debate and Promote Trust By: Julia A. Minson and Francesca Gino
  • Institutionalized Entrepreneurship: Flagship Pioneering By: Gary Pisano and Francesca Gino
  • Strategic Agility: Lessons from the Game of Poker By: Francesca Gino and Gary Pisano
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College