Cruel intentions? – The role of moral awareness, moral disengagement, and regulatory focus in the unethical use of social media by entrepreneurs

Abstract

Unethical behavior of entrepreneurs in the use of social media can have detrimental effects, both for the own entrepreneurial firm and also on competitors. In order to understand why entrepreneurs show unethical behavior a conceptual framework is developed in this paper, linking motives for financial gains, moral awareness, moral disengagement, and the tendency to make unethical decisions in the use of social media. This paper offers therewith insights into the cognitive processes of entrepreneurial decision-makers with respect to moral reasoning and ethical decision-making.