Buying Blame: Investors Are Held Responsible for Corporate Unethical Practices
Aamillya Joseph
Co-Presenters: Individual Presentation
College: College of Liberal Arts
Major: Psychology and Psychiatric Rehabilitation
Faculty Research Mentor: Peter Kardos
Abstract:
Previous research suggests that ethical considerations guide investment decisions, including socially responsible investing, but it remains unclear whether investors are held accountable for investments in unethical companies. This project investigates blame attribution for investment decisions, focusing on whether people assign blame to individual investors when the company they invest in causes harm. Using online experiments, we aim to uncover when and why people hold investors responsible and blameworthy for the harm caused by the companies they invested in and examine the role of investment success (e.g., profit), and the investor’s choices in determining blame attribution.