Members of the RetailWire community were understandably outraged in a recent discussion on this site about a study conducted by the Josephson Institute that found nearly two-thirds of high school students had cheated on a test in the past year and 30 percent had stolen something from a store.
Now, a new study from HCD Research shows that our kids' busted moral compasses appear to be handed down to them by adults. It turns out that the majority of Americans would be quite willing to pay someone a bribe to get ahead if they thought they knew they could get away with it.
Here are some of the findings of the HCD Research:
- Sixty-two percent would illegally pay a governor if it meant they could secure a job that pays more than $100,000 a year;
- Fifty-eight percent would pay the governor (or other government official we'll assume) if it meant they could get off on a reckless driving charge;
- Fifty-eight percent would pay if the government could guarantee to take steps that would turn a money-losing business into one that turned a profit;
- Fifty-eight percent would pay to have access to the same medical insurance at the same price as paid by the state government.
Discussion Questions: Whatever happened to doing the right thing simply because it was the right thing to do? Are retailers and those in related industries as morally challenged as the respondents to these studies and leaders in government and business who have recently been accused of corrupt and illegal behavior?