Abstract
People lie. We know that they lie because we catch them. After all, if a lie is never caught, how can we know it occurred? People lie for a variety of reasons, and the results vary in their magnitude, ranging from the little white lies that lubricate social discourse to the lies that result in major corporate financial catastrophes.
This chapter explores the landscape populated by liars and, in so doing, pokes into the woods of other unethical behaviors and questions the very existence of a “normal” ethical business life. To help the reader to understand lying, the chapter looks at the psychological literature on how people interact as well as how they express themselves nonverbally. It also examines the specific organizational behavior and business ethics literatures, which together are the landmarks along the honesty and dishonesty parade.
This chapter explores the landscape populated by liars and, in so doing, pokes into the woods of other unethical behaviors and questions the very existence of a “normal” ethical business life. To help the reader to understand lying, the chapter looks at the psychological literature on how people interact as well as how they express themselves nonverbally. It also examines the specific organizational behavior and business ethics literatures, which together are the landmarks along the honesty and dishonesty parade.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Managing organizational deviance |
| Editors | Roland E. Kidwell, Jr., Christopher L. Martin |
| Place of Publication | Thousand Oaks, CA |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications |
| Chapter | 7 |
| Pages | 157-172 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780761930143, 9780761930136 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2005 |
| Externally published | Yes |