The Unconscious Conscience: Implicit Processes and Deception in Negotiation

Abstract

Deception is pervasive in negotiations, and proponents of bounded ethicality propose that the decision to use deception reflects the influence of (unconscious) implicit processes. In this article, we empirically explore the bounded ethicality perspective. In the first experiment, we found that an implicit association between business and morality interacted with the competitive and cooperative characteristics of a negotiation to influence both negotiators' attitudes toward deception and their intentions to use deception. But in a second and third experiment, we found that these did not interact to influence negotiators' actual deception decisions. The results of our studies provide important insights into the deception decision process and complicate our understanding of bounded ethicality.