Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T05:49:35.902Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

From washing hands to washing consciences and polishing reputations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2021

Matthieu Légeret
Affiliation:
Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC), University of Lausanne, CH-1015Lausanne, Switzerland. [email protected]; [email protected] https://hecnet.unil.ch/hec/recherche/fiche?pnom=mlegeret&dyn_lang=enhttps://hecnet.unil.ch/hec/recherche/fiche?pnom=uhoffrage&dyn_lang=en
Ulrich Hoffrage
Affiliation:
Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC), University of Lausanne, CH-1015Lausanne, Switzerland. [email protected]; [email protected] https://hecnet.unil.ch/hec/recherche/fiche?pnom=mlegeret&dyn_lang=enhttps://hecnet.unil.ch/hec/recherche/fiche?pnom=uhoffrage&dyn_lang=en

Abstract

While Lee and Schwarz propose grounded procedures of separation as an explanation for physical cleansing in various domains (e.g., washing one's hands), we suggest that separation can also account for behavioral cleansing aimed at washing consciences and polishing reputations. We discuss this extension in terms of degrees of behavioral cleansing, motivations, and intentions behind cleansing, and social settings.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aquino, K., & Reed, A. II (2002). The self-importance of moral identity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), 1423.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delmas, M. A., & Burbano, V. C. (2011). The drivers of greenwashing. California Management Review, 54(1), 6487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Laufer, W. S. (2003). Social accountability and corporate greenwashing. Journal of Business Ethics, 43(3), 253261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Légeret, M. (2020). Three essays in individual decision making. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, HEC Lausanne.Google Scholar
Lyon, T. P., & Montgomery, A. W. (2015). The means and end of Greenwash. Organization & Environment, 28(2), 223249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Near, J. P., & Miceli, M. P. (1985). Organizational dissidence: The case of whistle-blowing. Journal of Business Ethics, 4(1), 116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Near, J. P., & Miceli, M. P. (1995). Effective-whistle blowing. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 679708.Google Scholar
Reynolds, S. J., & Ceranic, T. L. (2007). The effects of moral judgment and moral identity on moral behavior: An empirical examination of the moral individual. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(6), 1610.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sachdeva, S., Iliev, R., & Medin, D. L. (2009). Sinning saints and saintly sinners: The paradox of moral self-regulation. Psychological Science, 20(4), 523528.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suchman, M. C. (1995). Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 571610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tost, L. P. (2011). An integrative model of legitimacy judgments. Academy of Management Review, 36(4), 686710.Google Scholar
West, C., & Zhong, C.-B. (2015). Moral cleansing. Current Opinion in Psychology, 6, 221225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.09.022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhong, C. B., & Liljenquist, K. (2006). Washing away your sins: Threatened morality and physical cleansing. Science (New York, N.Y.), 313(5792), 14511452. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1130726.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed