Ethical blind spots: explaining unintentional unethical behavior

• We review recent research on unintentional unethical behavior.
• We present the psychological processes that lead people to behave unethically without being aware.
• We provide an overview of the conditions under which individuals fail to notice unethical behavior.
• We argue that future research needs to focus on finding strategies to mitigate unethical behavior.

People view themselves as more ethical, fair, and objective than others, yet often act against their moral compass. This paper reviews recent research on unintentional unethical behavior and provides an overview of the conditions under which ethical blind spots lead good people to cross ethical boundaries. First, we present the psychological processes that cause individuals to behave unethically without their own awareness. Next, we examine the conditions that lead people to fail to accurately assess others’ unethical behavior. We argue that future research needs to move beyond a descriptive framework and focus on finding empirically testable strategies to mitigate unethical behavior.