Universität zu Köln

Stein, Caroline (2023). How social norms and ethics shape economic behavior. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

In my thesis, I explore the intrinsic motivation of individuals to act according to ethical rules and social norms in economically relevant situations. In chapter two, I study in an online experiment how the experience of punishment affects individual norm perceptions and behavior in situations where no punishment exists. I argue that the experience of peer punishment can serve as a signal that the exhibited behavior is considered less appropriate than the punished subject thought it is. This could help update the normative perception. I use a simple investment game with costly punishment and run two treatments to elicit trustees' behavior and norm perceptions separately. As a result, I find that the subjects shift their normative perceptions to a more favorable evaluation toward lower returns, which I call an erosion of norms over rounds. However, this effect is significantly smaller for those subjects who were punished. Chapter three investigates the effectiveness of external whistleblowing regimes when internal whistleblowing is also possible. As a main result, it shows that the external channel indeed increases sanctioning. However, it does not seem to encourage more people to blow the whistle. In chapter four, the question is analyzed whether being responsible for an ethical or unethical work environment affects workers' performance. The results from a laboratory real-effort experiment show that subjects who prefer to work under an ethical regime, perform better if they are also responsible for that.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Stein, Caroline carolinestein24@gmail.com UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-653431
Date:	2023
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences > Business Administration > Corporate Development > Professorship for Business Administration, Corporate Development and Business Ethics
Subjects:	Social sciences Economics Management and auxiliary services
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language experimental economics English ethical behavior English social norms English norm updating English whistleblowing English responsibility English
Date of oral exam:	7 February 2023
Referee:	Name Academic Title Irlenbusch, Bernd Prof. Sutter, Matthias Prof.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/65343