Preference for Inequality and Ethical Trade-Offs: A U.S. – Turkey Comparison

Societies and organizations face the dual challenges of increasing economic prosperity while also achieving social justice and protecting individual human rights. Drawing on cross-cultural research and social dominance theory, we investigate differences in trade-off decisions between managers and professionals from the U.S. and Turkey in responding to ethical dilemmas in two contexts: business organizations and their respective societies at large. U.S. managers, compared with their Turkish counterparts, and individuals of both the U.S. and Turkish nationalities with stronger social dominance orientation, prioritized economic prosperity over social justice, and the rights of the privileged over rights of the disadvantaged. Finally, social dominance orientation mediated some of the nationality effects. Theoretical and practical implications of cross- and within-cultural differences in ethical trade-offs are discussed.