Date of Graduation
5-2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Mechanical Engineering
Advisor/Mentor
Nutter, Darin
Committee Member/Reader
Roe, Larry A.
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
Included in
Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons, Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons
