Christian Truelsen Elbæk - 3rd year PhD presentation

Supervisors: Panagiotis Mitkidis & Lene Aarøe (Pol.Sc.)
Discussants: Jacob Orquin & Oana Vuculescu

Abstract
Individuals around the globe experience different forms of material resource scarcity. As experiences of scarcity have been found to make individuals more risk-taking and focused on regaining resources in the short-term, a growing body of research has investigated how material scarcity affects moral economic behavior. Yet, findings remain mixed and at times contradictory. In this pre-registered meta-analysis, we evaluate how material resource scarcity affects moral economic behavior. We analyze a comprehensive dataset (k = 44, N = 6,921) across four distinct types of scarcity: financial scarcity, physiological scarcity, scarcity reminders, and lower social class. Our findings show that acute scarcity significantly increases the propensity to engage in unethical behavior (gfinancial = .24, gphysiological = .39, greminders = .32). Importantly, we find no evidence that low social class affects unethical behavior (gsocial class = .02). We discuss how these findings advance our understanding of the psychological and moral consequences of material scarcity.

Everyone is welcome!