<p>Few scales exist to measure greed; researchers remain unclear if perceptions of greed vary based
on situational factors. Thus, the researcher developed a greed survey, completed by 48 adults, to
determine if willingness to participate in or overlook greedy behaviors varies by situation.
Across the survey?s greed scenarios, respondents perceived greed 63%-89% of the time,
suggesting that perceptions of greed vary based on situational factors. Furthermore, 17%
reported that the scenarios did not definitively indicate, but only possibly indicated, greedy
behaviors. Only 3 subjects failed to rate at least one scenario with uncertainty, suggesting that
most attended to situational factors in assessing greediness. Subjects were more certain in
assessing behaviors? morality than greed, again suggesting that greed assessments are
situationally moderated. Collectively, results suggest that for most people, whether or not an
action is perceived as greedy depends on the situation and not merely on the action itself. In
contrast, only 10-15% of subjects indicated that their feelings about persons/organizations would
affect their likelihood of engaging in greed behaviors; that they would be less likely to engage in
greed behaviors if this would cause material harm to others; and that their decisions to engage in
greed behaviors would depend on their own needs. Thus, results further indicate that, for only a
minority of persons, willingness to participate in greed behaviors varies based on situation.
These findings contribute to the science of greed by clearly indicating that most persons assess
the presence of greed using situational modifiers and not merely an action in itself, but that only
a small percentage of persons would engage in greedy behaviors because of situational factors.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10260427 |
| Date | 31 March 2017 |
| Creators | Elrod, Marshall C. |
| Publisher | Kaplan University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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