Past studies have shown that when people interact, they tend to affirm their commonalities. Two colleagues who are both fans of a particular sports team, for example, will talk about the team frequently in their workplace conversations. These two colleagues could then mistakenly believe they have more in common than they actually do.

This misperception could be especially true regarding ethical and moral beliefs, since coworkers often don’t discuss such issues. Instead, coworkers tend to discuss their families, current events and other topics they perceive as safe. Flynn and Wiltermuth have shown that having this ethical blind spot can be particularly dangerous for people at the center of social networks, because these individuals are more likely to perceive themselves as being more in touch with others’ opinions than they actually are.

“If members of organizations erroneously assume that their ethical judgments are in line with the prevailing view,” write Flynn and Wiltermuth, “they may feel emboldened to act and only learn of their misjudgment when it is too late to avert the consequences.”

CEOs and other executives are particularly vulnerable to making such miscalculations because past research has also shown that people in powerful positions are more likely than others to search for evidence confirming their beliefs rather than exploring contradictory information. Moreover, ethical dilemmas are inherently tricky.

ht @amandachapel