A recent study has found cleanliness can help people return to ethical behaviour. Contrarily, feelings of disgust can increase behaviours, such as lying and cheating, the findings showed. The research suggested that if the employees find their workplace spic and span, they are more likely to cooperate and less likely to cheat.
The study highlights the powerful impact that emotions have on individual decision-making. “Small things can trigger specific emotions, which can deeply affect people’s decision-making,” explained Vikas Mittal, professor at Rice University. “At the basic level, if you have environments that are cleaner, if you have workplaces that are cleaner, people should be less likely to feel disgusted,” he added.
“If the likelihood to feel disgusted is less, there will be a lower likelihood of people needing to be self-focused. Thus, [leading to] a higher likelihood of people cooperating with each other,” said Mittal. The study involved 600 participants from across the United States, with an equal representation of both sexes.
The study showed that people, who experienced disgust consistently, engaged in self-interested behaviours at a significantly higher rate than those who did not. The findings could facilitate those in managerial positions and heads of organisations understand the impact, both ethical and unethical, of emotions on decision-making, Mittal commented. The study will be a part of the journal Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 16th, 2014.
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