Evidence Of Social Desirability Response Bias In Ethics Research: An International Study

Abstract

This paper analyzes the association between ethical perceptions of questionable business practices and Hofstede’s Individualism, Transparency International’s Corruption Index, and social desirability response bias.  The sample consists of 1,048 business students from ten countries: Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Nepal, South Africa, Spain, and the United States.  The results of our analysis indicate that, while Hofstede’s (1980) cultural construct of Individualism was significant for two of the questions, social desirability response bias was the most consistent variable in modeling subjects’ responses.  Our data indicate that social desirability response bias should be controlled for when using self-reported data in ethics and/or international studies.