The opportunities and challenges of behavioral field research on misconduct

Abstract

Research on behavioral misconduct and ethics across many fields has provided important managerial and policy implications, but has primarily relied on laboratory experiments and survey-based methods to quantify and explain predictors of and mechanisms behind such behavior. This introduction to the Special Issue explains how these more common methods can be complemented by studying misconduct through behavioral data from field settings. We present four classes of behavioral field research, describe their relative strengths and weaknesses, and provide examples from both the Special Issue papers and some of the best preexisting papers. We then explain the key opportunities and challenges facing behavioral field researchers and the tools that address them. Finally, we argue that a combination of methodological approaches will provide the most robust knowledge set on the determinants, mechanisms, and consequences of misconduct and unethical behavior.