November/ December 2006

Unveiling the influential impact of the good, the bad and the ugly

Michael Hitt You are known by the company you keep, the old saying goes, and according to a study from Mays Business School, this may hold some truth. Ironically, though, the study shows that friends as role models tend to have a positive effect on ethical negotiations—and parents have the opposite effect.

In a survey of more than 1,600 students in four states, Mays’ PricewaterhouseCoopers Accounting Excellence Professor Clair J. Nixon examines how one’s life-long contacts influence ethical negotiation practices. Coming in among the most positive of those influencers are grandparents, college advisors, friends, clergy and youth church leaders. And the groups of mentors who were more likely to have a negative effect in one’s ethical approach to negotiations? Journalists, spouses, parents, college professors and coaches.

Parents and spouses tend to influence the students surveyed to embrace traditional competitive bargaining tactics as they negotiate, Nixon finds along with co-author Greg Perry in their 2005 Journal of Business Ethics paper, “The Influence of Role Models on Negotiation Ethics of College Students.”

The article’s questions are broken into sections to represent unethical negotiation practices, with the primary characteristics being false promises, misrepresentation, attacking an opponent’s network, inappropriate information gathering and traditional competitive bargaining.

The aggressive attitudes that compliment competitive bargaining make an individual more likely to subscribe to less ethical behavior, while cooperative behavior encourages the opposite, Nixon shows. Religion also plays a prominent role in ethical negotiation by having the biggest deterring impact on competitive bargaining and inappropriate information gathering.

To shed light on the importance of academia, the research finds that college advisors have one of the most positive effects on students. And while college professors don’t generally exude a similar response, professors are actively working to help change this statistic.

In his previous position as Mays’ associate dean, Nixon was in charge of incorporating ethics in all areas of study at Mays. And although he’s answered that ethics can be a learned behavior, there’s still one vital question on his mind: “Can you measure the impact of an ethics course?”

“Ethics has to be on the forefront of discussion,” Nixon said, “but I believe it’s something that can be taught.”

Even into adulthood, our ethical negotiation strategies continue to be influenced by those around us. As adults, though, the people we rely on the most—spouses and news journalists—are primarily negative influences. The challenge, then, is to use our lifetime bank of ethical knowledge to decipher what input is good and what’s bad.

It’s this lifelong malleability of the mind that makes ethical studies such as Nixon’s both relative and beneficial—because despite years of constant molding, there’s always room for change. So although many people believe the U.S. is suffering from an ethical crisis, the attainability of a turnaround is at our fingertips, Nixon said. Because ethics is, after all, “just an awareness.”

Nixon’s research into what drives our ethical decision-making is ongoing. He plans to survey 2,000 individuals in different industries in search of ethical discrepancies. He plans to also evaluate international practices, beginning in Spain and Chile, to judge the global variations of ethical considerations.

— Ashley N. Coker


November/ December 2006
Business Vader joins health side Unveiling the influential impact of the good, the bad and the ugly Building pie charts or baking apple pie? Sink or swim? Search and you shall find? Counting on accounting Service Innovation Keeps Them Coming Making Derivative Transactions Transparent New-Product Pre-Announcements Boost Shareholder Value Watching Buffett: The Power to Move Markets	Unveiling the influential impact of the good, the bad and the ugly You are known by the company you keep, the old saying goes, and according to a study from Mays Business School, this may hold some truth. Ironically, though, the study shows that friends as role models tend to have a positive effect on ethical negotiations—and parents have the opposite effect. In a survey of more than 1,600 students in four states, Mays’ PricewaterhouseCoopers Accounting Excellence Professor Clair J. Nixon examines how one’s life-long contacts influence ethical negotiation practices. Coming in among the most positive of those influencers are grandparents, college advisors, friends, clergy and youth church leaders. And the groups of mentors who were more likely to have a negative effect in one’s ethical approach to negotiations? Journalists, spouses, parents, college professors and coaches. Parents and spouses tend to influence the students surveyed to embrace traditional competitive bargaining tactics as they negotiate, Nixon finds along with co-author Greg Perry in their 2005 Journal of Business Ethics paper, “The Influence of Role Models on Negotiation Ethics of College Students.” The article’s questions are broken into sections to represent unethical negotiation practices, with the primary characteristics being false promises, misrepresentation, attacking an opponent’s network, inappropriate information gathering and traditional competitive bargaining. The aggressive attitudes that compliment competitive bargaining make an individual more likely to subscribe to less ethical behavior, while cooperative behavior encourages the opposite, Nixon shows. Religion also plays a prominent role in ethical negotiation by having the biggest deterring impact on competitive bargaining and inappropriate information gathering. To shed light on the importance of academia, the research finds that college advisors have one of the most positive effects on students. And while college professors don’t generally exude a similar response, professors are actively working to help change this statistic. In his previous position as Mays’ associate dean, Nixon was in charge of incorporating ethics in all areas of study at Mays. And although he’s answered that ethics can be a learned behavior, there’s still one vital question on his mind: “Can you measure the impact of an ethics course?” “Ethics has to be on the forefront of discussion,” Nixon said, “but I believe it’s something that can be taught.” Even into adulthood, our ethical negotiation strategies continue to be influenced by those around us. As adults, though, the people we rely on the most—spouses and news journalists—are primarily negative influences. The challenge, then, is to use our lifetime bank of ethical knowledge to decipher what input is good and what’s bad. It’s this lifelong malleability of the mind that makes ethical studies such as Nixon’s both relative and beneficial—because despite years of constant molding, there’s always room for change. So although many people believe the U.S. is suffering from an ethical crisis, the attainability of a turnaround is at our fingertips, Nixon said. Because ethics is, after all, “just an awareness.” Nixon’s research into what drives our ethical decision-making is ongoing. He plans to survey 2,000 individuals in different industries in search of ethical discrepancies. He plans to also evaluate international practices, beginning in Spain and Chile, to judge the global variations of ethical considerations. — Ashley N. Coker