2004 Wharton graduate Jessica Kennedy likes data.
When discussing her recent work on how ethical compromises affect women’s decisions to pursue business, Kennedy, a post-doctoral fellow at Wharton, hesitated to stray from the facts — only saying what is concrete and scientifically proven.
Stating just the facts, she explained what her paper, “Who is Willing to Sacrifice Sacred Values for Money and Social Status?: Gender Differences in Reactions to Ethical Compromises,” was all about. The paper, which she co-authored with University of California, Berkeley professor Laura J. Kray, has recently received media attention from sources such as Slate Magazine and Huffington Post.
Kennedy and Kray reported three studies in their paper that tested different reactions from men and women about ethical compromise in business. Each study showed that women were less likely to sacrifice their ethical values than men. Women also were more likely to associate business with immorality than men.
“I went into it with this broad research question about why is it that women are underrepresented in business careers,” Kennedy said.
She wanted to explain the existence of the infamous “glass ceiling” — the barrier that prevents women from climbing up the corporate ladder.
Kennedy listed a variety of possible explanations for this phenomenon — backlash and discrimination, work-family conflicts and so on. But having studied ethics while she was an undergraduate at Wharton, she was curious about why no one has really discussed women’s ethical values as a possible reason for the barrier.
“I really don’t have a great story — there really wasn’t one moment,” Kennedy said about her decision to pursue this research. “But I really cared about ethics. I think I was just always fascinated by this idea that people thought ethics and succeeding involves some sort of trade-off, and I did not necessarily agree with that.”
Kennedy points to social roles to explain her result that women were more likely to choose morals over monetary gain and social status.
She believes that women are often taught by society to accept social responsibility in business situations, whereas men often have the attitude that they should do whatever is necessary to “get the job done.” The social scientist in her added that further research, however, should be done to test this hypothesis.
“We still hold those traditional roles, to the extent that we socialize men to be providers and women possibly to raise children and take care of the family,” Kennedy said.
She has not experienced this kind of dilemma in life. As a child in Austin growing up with her mom and younger sister, she didn’t notice these attitudes towards social roles. Even when she was an undergraduate studying finance and ethics at Wharton, she said she didn’t really see it.
“But I became more aware when I was in investment banking that attitudes [about social roles] were not always explicit,” Kennedy added. “Most of the problems lie in business organizations.”
Despite her results, Kennedy wants people to know that it is possible to be ethical and successful in business. And that’s an idea she’s wants Wharton students to understand.
“After publishing [the paper], I really thought I had a renewed sense of purpose of thinking about the value of helping people see how business and ethics can go together,” Kennedy said, speaking of how her paper has impacted her perspective on teaching Legal Studies 210 at Wharton, a class that focuses on ethics and business practices.
For her, Wharton is doing a good job at providing women with opportunities. As an undergraduate, Kennedy was a member and leader of Wharton Women, an organization that she valued for bringing important women leaders to speak to and teach students about the obstacles and challenges women in business must face.
Current Wharton Women Vice President of Membership Development and Wharton freshman Alexandra Spada appreciates Wharton Women for these same opportunities. Spada is optimistic about women in the business world.
“Women can sometimes get intimidated, but I think Wharton Women really exemplifies that women are powerful and aren’t afraid to enter the business world just because they are women,” Spada said. “I think it’s just going to take time.”
Kennedy noted that there is a trend in seeing more women in business and pursuing careers. There is also a trend moving away from forcing social roles on men and women.
But, she added, being a social scientist, there isn’t data to support it. “But it’s an interesting question for exploration.”
