Unethical investments: The baseline propensity to invest and the susceptibility to moral decay

Niszczota, Paweł, Conway, Paul and Białek, Michał (2023) Unethical investments: The baseline propensity to invest and the susceptibility to moral decay. SSRN Electronic Journal. (doi:10.2139/ssrn.4488208). (In Press)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Who is tempted by versus resilient to investment premiums from ‘sin stocks’ that produce social harm? We present a correlational (N = 218) and experimental study (N = 646) to examine a) willingness to invest in sin stocks without a return premium, b) how temptation increases as premiums increase, and c) moderation by individual differences in deontological and utilitarian sacrificial dilemma inclinations and dark personality traits. People exhibit an aversion to sin stocks without a premium, but most become increasingly willing to invest as premiums increase. However, people high in deontological inclinations demonstrated resilience, with lower baseline investment and lower responsivity to premium returns. Conversely, people high in utilitarian inclinations and Dark Triad traits showed higher responsivity to premium returns. Results suggest two independent aspects contribute to sin stock investment decisions: deciding whether to invest in sin stocks or not, and sensitivity to return premiums.

Text

SSRN-id4488208 (1) - Accepted Manuscript

Available under License University of Southampton Accepted Manuscript Licence.

Download (4MB)