The Slippery Slope : A Self-Regulatory Examination of the Cumulative Effect of Minor Ethical Transgressions

Many recent corporate scandals have been described as resulting from a slippery slope in which a series of small infractions gradually increased over time (e.g., McLean & Elkind, 2003). However, behavioral ethics research has rarely considered how unethical behavior evolves over time and to date has not empirically examined whether individuals engage in a slippery slope of increasingly unethical behavior. In this paper, we extend Bandura’s (1991, 1999) socialcognitive theory by demonstrating how the mechanisms of depleted self-regulation and increased moral disengagement can reduce ethicality over a series of gradually increasing indiscretions. Across three multi-round studies using different measures of unethical behavior, we find that gradual, rather than abrupt, changes lead to unethicality. In Studies 2 and 3, this effect is mediated by depleted self-regulation and increased moral disengagement.