Screening out ethics: How technology enables ethical fading in negotiations

Negotiations are rife with opportunities and temptations to engage in unethical negotiating behavior. Such behavior is not always strategic or even intentional; rather, it can emerge from situational characteristics of the negotiation environment. One psychological process through which situational characteristics influence unethical behavior is ethical fading, a process that limits one's ability to recognize the ethical aspects of the situation and behave in line with one's ethical values. As technologies such as email, video conferencing, and artificial intelligence (AI) become increasingly common in negotiations, an important question is whether these technologies facilitate ethical fading. In this review, we explore the impact that technology and AI have on ethical fading and unethical negotiating behavior. We propose that technology and AI use in negotiations promotes three cognitive processes that facilitate ethical fading: psychological distance, cognitive offloading, and displaced accountability. We review how technology may serve as an antecedent to each of these processes and explain why these processes may facilitate ethical fading in negotiation contexts. Because research on the relationship between technology and unethical negotiating behavior remains limited, we conclude by identifying promising directions for future research.