Employment Discrimination as Unethical Behavior

We argue that research on employment discrimination can be enriched by studying it as unethical behavior. Using five moral principles, namely utilitarianism, distributive justice, righteousness of actions, virtuousness, and ethics of care, we illustrate the treatment of employment discrimination as a moral issue. An overarching theme in this discussion is that nondiscrimination is a fundamental human right. Next, the chapter illustrates how individual-difference variables that predict unethical behavior, such as moral disengagement and cognitive moral development, can contribute to advancing knowledge about employment discrimination. A similar argument is then presented for situational predictors of unethical behavior, such as obedience with requests from organizational authorities. Lastly, we discuss the role of classic interventions against unethical behavior, such as codes of conduct and the emphasis on fairness as a moral imperative, for combating employment discrimination.