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“Money is often a key factor for unethical actions, either directly or indirectly, but it’s not the only influence on unethical behavior,” explains Dr. Miranda Welbourne Eleazar, John L. Miclot Faculty Fellow in Entrepreneurship and Assistant Professor.

“Businesses may act unethically to obtain, or avoid losing, important investors. That can also affect the businesses’ long-term survival and profits. The businesses may also be influenced by concerns about their status and power in the industry, which again may influence their profits and survival in the long run.”

She continues to say that unethical actions can also result from how executives see ethical issues and whether they ignore or justify them. And that can also depend on their personality, the nature of the business, what the executive culture is, and the like.

The thing that further complicates the issue of business ethics is that there is no clear objective line between what is ethical and unethical. Just like in philosophy, there are many different theories and personal takes on what goes and what doesn’t. Even basing this on something as objective as laws and regulations can be tricky.

“From a legal perspective, to determine whether something is illegal, a lawsuit needs to be brought and tried and that often doesn’t occur. Even when lawsuits are filed, most are dismissed or settled before a verdict. As a result, the line between ethical and unethical behavior is often unclear, even in industries that may generally be thought of as less ethical than others. The exception would be industries that are themselves illegal, such as illegal drugs, where any kind of business in those industries may be considered unethical,” elaborates Dr. Eleazar.

Dr. Eleazar continued: “Because ethics is often based on individual perception, if behavior most people would find unethical becomes more acceptable in an industry, people may be more likely to find that behavior to be ethical. This can also get to the point where legal changes occur, as seen in the legalization of marijuana and sports betting in many states.”

Though, it is important to note that change doesn’t occur quickly. For example, in the case of legalizing marijuana, sure, the laws are there, but as is usual with decriminalizing drugs, a lot of strict regulation is in place to make sure there is no abuse of the system.

Besides that, people’s views don’t change overnight, and the sociocultural climate and the perspective of marijuana still being technically a drug continues to spawn discussions and debates that make the line between what’s ethical or unethical hard to push in any direction. It’s more of a nudge.

But the keyword here is individual. While businesses have a lot of power in setting trends and making the rules, at the end of the day the bottom line is what determines the business’ course of action, and the consumer is more or less in control of that.

“For both consumers and employees, think about where you personally draw the line between what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Consumers can influence businesses’ ethics by choosing not to buy products from companies they find unethical,” says Dr. Eleazar.

“This isn’t always easy since consumers have limited information as to how the company runs its business and also have to consider the costs of the product and how many companies offer alternative similar products. However, when possible, consumers can look at what the company stands for, who the company works with, the materials the company uses, and how the company is covered in the news to decide whether to support the business and purchase products from the business.”