Social Class and Perceptions of Unethical Behavior in an Organizational Setting

Author

Jake GraweFollow

Date of Graduation

5-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Darin Nutter

Committee Member/Reader

Larry Roe

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore whether social class of third-party adjudicators or perpetrators affected punitive decision-making in unethical workplace scenarios. It was hypothesized that third-party adjudicators would grant leniency towards lower-class perpetrators as well as towards perpetrators who shared their own social class. Results showed that there was no significant difference in the perception and assignment of punishment for different social class perpetrators, nor did the results show that leniency was granted to perpetrators who shared adjudicators’ social class. Although the study did not confirm the initial hypotheses, unexpected trends did arise within the study and are discussed in this paper.

Keywords

Social class background, punishment, unethical workplace behavior

Citation

Grawe, J. (2019). Social Class and Perceptions of Unethical Behavior in an Organizational Setting. Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/meeguht/85