Foreign-language Effect On Ethical Judgment In Business Contexts

Along with the rapid development of globalization of economy,transnational trading is unprecedented frequently these days,and the commercial frictions induced by unethical behavior in international business practice is getting more and more attention.Therefore,the consideration of business ethics under a multi-cultural background is of prominent importance.Many scholars have carried out extensive research on the factors that influence the individual ethical behavior and judgment in workplace.Existing researches explore many factors,ranging from individual differences to organizational climate,which could influence individual unethical behavior and judgment.However,some research suggests that,when judge an unethical behavior,individuals using foreign languages give more lenient judgments than using native tongue.This phenomenon is called the foreign-language effect in moral psychology.Only a few existing studies probe the foreign-language effect in unethical behavior.This paper uses scenarios of business unethical behavior as the object of unethical judgment to examine whether foreign-language effect exists in the field of international business.In moral psychology,the mainstream findings of foreign-language effect suggest that foreign languages attenuate emotional arousal and lead further to utilitarian behavior and judgment.Therefore,this paper not only examines the predominant viewpoint,but also brings up and verifies a new perspective to explain foreign-language effect based on cultural mindset.Using certain language could activate corresponding cultural mindset structured with specific values and norms which function as standards of individual judgment,so it may influence further on the judgment.By adopting Culture as Situated Cognition Theory,this research sheds light on a new interpretation to explain foreign-language effect.Through three studies,this paper explores foreign-language effect in business contexts.A total of 202 undergraduate and graduate students participated in the experiments of Study 1.By manipulating the outcomes(whether causing consequence or not)of self-interested unethical behaviors(unethical behaviors that are conducted out of individual interest),Study 1 suggest that foreign-language effect in unethical judgment does not show utilitarian inclination,since the conditions of outcome fail to make a significant difference between two conditions of language.Also,only part of the emotions measured exhibit impairment,which indicates attenuated emotion could not be fully accountable for the foreign-language effect in unethical judgment.Study 2 adopts the same approach and only replaces self-interest intentions with pro-group intentions(conducting unethical behaviors out of collective interest).A total of 191 undergraduate and graduate students participated in the experiments of Study 2.The results are consistent with the findings in Study 1: the foreign-language effect appearing in judgments of pro-organizational unethical behavior does not exhibit utilitarian features and weakened emotions also could not fully account for such effect.According to the Cultural as Situated Cognition Theory that languages could activate the mindset of corresponding cultures,this paper puts forward a hypothesis that the foreign-language effect could be explained from a cultural perspective.Associating the main cultural differences of individualism and collectivism among western and eastern countries,Study 3 combines data from both self-interest and pro-organizational unethical behavior scenarios to manipulate the condition of intention.Under the Chinese language condition,no significant difference between judgments on self-interest and pro-organizational unethical behaviors is observed,yet subjects under English language condition judged self-interest unethical behaviors more leniently than pro-group ones.These results initially support the hypothesis that foreign-language effect could be partially explained from a cultural perspective.This research not only makes great contribution to theoretical developments,but also contains certain practical values in international business.Considering the theoretical contribution,this paper firstly introduces the foreign-language effect into international business and discovers this effect makes a difference on the judgment of unethical behavior.On the basis of Cultural as Situated Cognition Theory,this research also puts forward the possibility of understanding foreign-language effect from the perspective of culture,which also supports the viewpoint that foreign-language effect could be explained through obscured social norms from a cultural perspective.Considering,the practical significance,this study proposes that,when dealing with ethics problems in multinational enterprises,managers should realize that the frequent use of foreign languages in workplace might have an influence on individuals' view on unethical behaviors.This knowledge could help managers to deal with unethical behaviors in a more comprehensive way to decrease associated loss.