Moral luck in investment contexts: We consciously find unprofitable investments less moral.

ABSTRACT: Moral luck refers to whether an actor is morally praised or blamed for an action whose outcome they could not influence. In two studies, we investigated the behavioral importance of this phenomenon in the realm of investments, which has become increasingly subject to ethical evaluations. In our first online experiment, we examined whether people's moral evaluation of an investment decision depended on its arbitrary outcome and whether their interpretation of the nature of the decision was driven by this outcome. Our results showed that profitable investments were considered more moral than unprofitable investments. Moreover, profitable investments were labeled "investments" instead of "speculation" or "gambling" more often than unprofitable ones. In our second study, we asked the subjects

SUBMITTER: Max R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9844880 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature