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The Devil on the Entrepreneur’s Shoulder: Analyzing the Relationship Between Moral Disengagement, Founders’ Motives, and Unethical Behavior of Entrepreneurs on Social Media

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Understanding Social Media and Entrepreneurship

Part of the book series: Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship ((EDE))

Abstract

For quite some time now, research has discussed the importance of social media in the corporate context. Due to their simplicity and cost efficiency, social media applications are also particularly attractive for entrepreneurs. However, studies on social media have mainly concentrated on the benefits. Besides the many advocated advantages of social media, there are also many critical issues which can lead to negative consequences for users. Recent corporate social media–related scandals illustrate this and sparked a public discourse regarding ethically appropriate behavior of companies on social media. Using social media in an inappropriate way can have devastating consequences for a company, which can be especially fatal for young ventures. This chapter seeks to explore why especially entrepreneurs may lower their moral standards on social media and behave unethically. We find that the concept of moral disengagement can explain this negative behavior. We also find that entrepreneurs’ attention to economic goals is positively related to moral disengagement, whereas entrepreneurs’ attention to ethical responsibilities is negatively related to moral disengagement. We discuss implications for theory, practice, and future research.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nuremberg, Germany

    Christian V. Baccarella

  2. Universität zu Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany

    Christian W. Scheiner

  3. Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    Christian W. Scheiner

  4. Oliver Wyman, Munich, Germany

    Felix Diehlmann

Authors
  1. Christian V. Baccarella
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  2. Christian W. Scheiner
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  3. Felix Diehlmann
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christian V. Baccarella .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Babson College, Wellesley Hills, MA, USA

    Leon Schjoedt

  2. School of Business and Economics, Åbo Akademi University, Åbo, Turku, Finland

    Malin E. Brännback

  3. School of Business and Economics, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

    Alan L. Carsrud

Appendix A

Appendix A

Items used to assess unethical behavior on social media.

How likely is it that you would:

  1. 1.

    Deliberately disseminate misleading information on social media?

  2. 2.

    Put others in a bad light on social media?

  3. 3.

    Compromise others on social media?

  4. 4.

    Engage someone to negatively portray a competitor under false identity on social media (e.g., through negative ratings)?

  5. 5.

    Try to provoke other social media users with negative information about competitors (e.g., to trigger an online firestorm)?

  6. 6.

    Manipulate information about competitors on social media (e.g., on Wikipedia)?

  7. 7.

    Misuse private content of employees on social media sites for corporate purposes?

  8. 8.

    Use data from customers without their consent (e.g., crawling and passing on e-mail addresses)?

  9. 9.

    Disturb competitors’ social media sites in a targeted manner (e.g., with false posts)?

  10. 10.

    Pretend ideas from others are your own ideas?

  11. 11.

    Monitor private social media sites of employees without their consent?

  12. 12.

    Use private content from competitors on social media sites for corporate purposes?

  13. 13.

    Use private content from customers on social media sites for corporate purposes?

  14. 14.

    Hire someone to positively promote your company under a false identity on social media?

  15. 15.

    Promote your own company under a false identity (e.g., through positive reviews)?

  16. 16.

    Exploit lack of knowledge of social media users for your own purposes?

  17. 17.

    Insult competitors on social media sites?

  18. 18.

    Disseminate untrue information via social media sites because they have not been previously verified?

  19. 19.

    Exploit customers for own purposes without their knowledge (e.g., use statements for advertising purposes without asking)?

  20. 20.

    Tolerate misconduct by suppliers on social media sites against other companies?

  21. 21.

    Tolerate misconduct by own employees on social media sites against other companies?

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Baccarella, C.V., Scheiner, C.W., Diehlmann, F. (2020). The Devil on the Entrepreneur’s Shoulder: Analyzing the Relationship Between Moral Disengagement, Founders’ Motives, and Unethical Behavior of Entrepreneurs on Social Media. In: Schjoedt, L., Brännback, M.E., Carsrud, A.L. (eds) Understanding Social Media and Entrepreneurship. Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43453-3_9

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