What drives unethical behaviour?

Our latest issue of future [inc] investigates themes and findings from global scandals in the banking and financial services industry.

Some scandals are caused by people who – driven by greed and the demands of a complex, fast-paced industry – choose to behave unethically.

However, evidence from social psychology points to an alternative explanation: a great deal of unethical behaviour is unconscious.

"Ethics is not definable, is not implementable, because it is not conscious; it involves not only our thinking, but also our feeling."

The paper proposes a number of interventions:

• Harnessing data analytics to measure and reward non-financial performance
• Engaging in conscious, principled reasoning
• Reducing the risk of insularity
• Making ethics part of the everyday conversation