Abstract
There are gaps in the Social and Ethical issues literature regarding the structure of individual ethical reasoning and the process through which personal ethical standards erode or decline. Social Penetration Theory may be used to view ethical issues of low, moderate, or high salience. It also produces a model of the process by which an individual turns to less desirable ethical reasoning and behavior.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, J. S.: 1982, 'Inequity in Social Exchange', in H. L. Tosi and W. C. Hammer (eds.), Organizational Behavior and Management (Wiley, New York).
Altman, I. and W. W. Haythorn: 1965, 'Interpersonal Exchange in Isolation', Sociometry 28(4), 411–426.
Altman, I. and D. A. Taylor: 1973, Social Penetration: The Development of Interpersonal Relationships (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York).
Baack, Donald: 1991, 'The Personal Impact of Company Policies: A Social Penetration Theory Perspective', Journal of Managerial Issues III 2, 196–219.
Cederblom, J. and C. J. Dougherty: 1990, Ethics at Work (Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, CA).
Davis, J. D.: 1977, 'Effects of Communication about Interpersonal Process on the Evolution of Self-Disclosure in Dyads', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 35(1), 31–37.
Dubin, R.: 1958, The World of Work (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).
Dubin, R.: 1956, 'Industrial Workers' Worlds: A Study of the 'Central Life Interests' of Industrial Workers', Social Problems 3(1), 131–142.
Ferrell, O. C. and J. Fraedrich: 1994, Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases, 2nd ed. (Houghton Mifflin, Boston).
Gilligan, C.: 1982, In a Different Voice (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA).
Hartley, Robert F.: 1993, Business Ethics: Violations of the Public Trust (Wiley, New York).
Heider, F.: 1958, The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations (Wiley, New York).
Homans, G. C.: 1961, Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms (Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, New York).
Homans, G. C.: 1956, 'Social Behavior as Exchange', American Journal of Sociology 63(6), 597–606.
Hosmer, L. T.: 1991, The Ethics of Management, 2nd ed. (Irwin, Homewood, IL).
Johnson, C. F. and J. M. Dabbs Jr.: 1976, 'Self-Disclosure in Dyads as a Function of Distance and Subject-Experimenter Relationships', Sociometry 39(3), 257–263.
Jourard, S. M.: 1961, 'Self-Disclosure Patterns in British and American College Females', Journals of Social Psychology 54(2), 315–320.
Jourard, S. M. and P. Lasakow: 1958, 'Some Factors in Self Disclosure', Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 56(1), 9198.
Kohlberg, L.: 1966, 'A Cognitive-Developmental Analysis of Children's Sex Role Concepts and Attitudes', in E. E. Maccoby (ed.), The Development of Sex Differences (Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, CA).
Kuratko, D. F., R. V. Montagno and J. S. Hornsby: 1990, 'Developing an Intrapreneurial Assessment Instrument for an Effective Corporate Entrepreneurial Environment', Strategic Management Journal 11, 49–58.
Lewin, K.: 1951, Field Theory in Social Science (Harper & Row, New York).
Mobley, W. H., R. W. Griffeth, H. H. Hand and B. M. Meglino: 1979, 'Review and Conceptual Analysis of the Employee Turnover Process', Psychological Bulletin 86(3), 493–522.
Nash, L. L.: 1981, 'Ethics Without the Sermon', Harvard Business Review (Nov-Dec), 79–90.
Parnell, John and Donald Baack: 1993, 'Company Policies and Individual Responses: Test of a Social Penetration Theory Model', Regional Business Review 12, 37–52.
Perry, W.: 1968, Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York).
Peter, J. P.: 1979, 'Reliability: A Review of Psychometric Basics and Recent Marketing Practices', Journal of Marketing Research 16, 6–17.
Schein, E. H.: 1970, Organizational Psychology (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey).
Shaw, M. E. and P. R. Costanzo: 1982, Theories of Social Psychology (McGraw-Hill, New York).
Storms, P. L. and P. E. Spector: 1987, 'Relationships of Organizational Frustration with Reported Behavioral Reactions: The Moderating Effect of Locus Control', Journal of Occupational Psychology 60(3), 227–234.
Taylor, D.: 1968, 'The Development of Interpersonal Relationships: Social Penetration Processes', Journal of Social Psychology 75(1), 79–90.
Taylor, D. and I. Altman: 1975, 'Self-Disclosure as a Function of Reward Cost Outcomes', Sociometry 38(1), 18–31.
Taylor, D., I. Altman and R. Sorrentino: 1969, 'Interpersonal Exchange as a Function of Rewards and Costs and Situational Factors: Expectance Confirmation-Disconfirmation', Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 26, 39–47.
Thibaut, J. W. and H. H. Kelley: 1959, The Social Psychology of Groups (Wiley, New York).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Baack, D., Fogliasso, C. & Harris, J. The Personal Imapact of Ethical Decisiosn: A Social Penetration Theory. Journal of Business Ethics 24, 39–49 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006016113319
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006016113319