Do You See the Problem? A Literature Review on Ethical Decision Making Across Professional Fields

To better understand the literature on ethical decision-making, we performed a systematic literature review to gather information about the quantity and content of scientific articles on individual behavior and decision-making processes when encountering potential ethical dilemmas in helping professions. Four databases (PsycINFO, Business Source Complete, PubMed, and Google Scholar) were searched using six different ethics-related terms and combinations. A backward citation search was done to ensure complete coverage of the topic. Articles were coded as experimental research or nonexperimental (conceptual papers, literature reviews, or other). This approach allowed for a focused analysis of evidence-based findings on ethical considerations in behavior analysis and decision-making. Among the 311 nonexperimental articles, 49.1% were from business, 12.7% from behavior analysis and clinical psychology, 5.5% from biomedical ethics, 16.4% from other fields, and research ethics accounted for 3.6%. Among the 55 experimental articles, 46.9% were from business, 18.6% from behavior analysis, 14.8% from clinical psychology, 4.2% from biomedical ethics, 13.8% from other fields, and research ethics accounted for 1.6%. Research ethics had the smallest representation, which is troubling given the current replication crisis (Wiggins & Christopherson, 2019). The foundational value of knowledge becomes threatened when unreplicable and inaccurate findings are published, then causing harm both in scientific and non-scientific communities relying on what is supposed to be beneficial research. There is a disproportionately higher focus on ethics in the business research literature compared to the other areas, including behavior analysis. We believe it is crucial that more research be done on ethical decision-making in behavior analysis to ensure practitioners can identify possible ethical dilemmas across professional and nonprofessional settings before demonstrating ethical decision-making processes and behavior.