Philipp E. Otto

European University Viadrina,

Frankfurt (Oder), Germany

E-mail: otto@europa-uni.de

ORCID 0000-0001-8630-108X

Power attitudes and stealing behavior: Students’ senses of social norms and responsibility

Friedel Bolle

European University Viadrina,

Frankfurt (Oder), Germany

E-mail: bolle@europa-uni.de

ORCID 0000-0002-7586-4693

Abstract. Acts of taking money away from others and acts of reverting this behavior are investigated in an experimental survey that includes attitudinal questions concerning power and responsibility. Decisions to “steal or not” and “revert stealing or not” were made either before, or after the attitudinal questions. All possible individual combinations between stealing and reverting the stealing from others are frequently observed. Answering questions concerning power and responsibility beforehand leads to less stealing. People who believe that power is important in private relations, have a higher tendency to steal money from unknown others, and people who believe that power is important in public relations more often revert the stealing from others. Perceived powerlessness seems to increase stealing as well as  reverting of others’ stealing. Attitudes towards responsibility do not relate to these investigated behaviors. Individual values for social actions best describe the observed students’ behavioral variation in social norm compliance.

Received: April, 2020

1st Revision: September, 2020

Accepted: December, 2020

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2020/13-4/1

JEL Classification: A13, C93, D63

Keywords: ethical decision-making, helplessness preferences, responsible choices, social norms