Study: Creative Minds May Be Cheaters

Due to their increased capacity for innovative rationalization, creative people are more likely to engage in unethical behavior, according to a Harvard Business School study.

Francesca Gino, an associate professor at HBS and a co-author of the working paper, said the findings may have important implications for business administration and organization.

“What we’re really interested in is how organizations can promote good behavior with creativity, but not cause [their workers] to behave in a way that promotes unethical behavior,” said Gino, who collaborated on the study with Duke University Behavioral Economics Professor Dan Ariely.

The study—which is currently being peer reviewed—concluded that people who work in creative professions have a greater tendency to compromise their morality.

“There is a lot of a research suggesting good consequences in terms of productivity and beneficial outcomes when people are creative,” said Gino. “We want organizations and managers to be aware not only of good consequences, but that there might also be some dark consequences as well.”

Although Gino said that a creative person will not necessarily engage in unethical activity, she said she believes that there is a link between the two factors.

“It’s possible that always being confronted by demands to try to be creative and innovative can make people think about ethical loopholes,” Gino said.

To counter this tendency for immorality among creative people, Gino said she advocates a work environment that promotes ethical behavior.

Businesses and organizations can create these reminders by “looking at the type of language used in ethics codes” and “creating environmental cues that remind us of our childhood and children,” Gino said.

Gino added that she hopes her findings inspire businesses and organizations to think more critically about issues of creativity.

“It’s important to understand the limits and boundaries of fostering creativity at work,” she said.

Shelley H. Carson, who is an associate of the psychology department, said that the study’s findings are consistent with previous research.

“We’ve known much longer than this that there is a correlation between at least minor dishonesty and creativity,” she said. “The idea has been around for quite a while.”

— Staff writer Rebecca D. Robbins can be reached at rrobbins@college.harvard.edu.