The limits to moral erosion in markets: Social norms and the replacement excuse
通过实验研究竞争市场中“我不做别人也会做”的替代借口对道德行为的影响，发现明确的社会规范能限制该借口的负面作用。
This paper studies the impact of a key feature of competitive markets on moral behavior: the possibility that a competitor might step in and conclude the deal if a conscientious market actor forgoes a profitable business opportunity for ethical reasons. In a series of experiments, we study whether people invoke the replacement excuse, that is, the argument “if I don't do it, someone else will,” to justify narrowly self-interested actions. Our data are consistent with the possibility that the existence of a clear social norm of moral conduct can limit the impact of the availability of the replacement excuse on behavior.