Social norms are informal institutions that reflect widely shared beliefs about how group members ought to (injunctive social norms) or actually (descriptive social norms) behave in a certain situation. Ranging from norms for fairness, altruism, honesty, responsibility, and cooperation to green consumption and food sharing, social norms greatly influence individual and group decision-making and are considered to have great application values in nudging people towards pro-social and pro-environmental behaviors. Although social norms are well received in the fields of behavioral economics, psychology, sociology and decision neuroscience, most of these studies are based on relatively abstract and simplified settings, and the implications for practical and managerial issues are insufficient. We still lack knowledge about how social norms affect specific managerial decision-making and how management systems and forces constrain or enhance social norms, the cognitive and emotional mechanisms in this process as well as the relevant neural evidence.

The goal of this Research Topic is to provide a platform for any studies that apply social norms to the field of managerial decision-making and related areas. The Research Topic will be specifically looking for both experimental (lab and field) and empirical (survey, secondary data) studies that are designed to examine the effects of social norms on pro-social and pro-environmental decision-makings of corporate executives, employees, consumers and policy makers. Studies that describe cognitive and emotional mechanisms of above social norm effects using behavioral and/or neuroscience technologies and methods (e.g., EEG, tDCS, fNIRS, facial coding, and eye-tracking) are also welcome to submit.

Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts that investigate the roles of social norms (e.g., norms for fairness, reciprocity, altruism, honesty, responsibility, cooperation, green consumption and food sharing) in the areas but not limited to:
-Corporate governance and strategic management (e.g., corporate social responsibility; board dissent).
-Accounting and finance (e.g., financial fraud).
-Operations management (e.g., product quality).
-Information and technology management (e.g., information security).
-Organizational behavior (e.g., unethical behavior).
-Consumer behavior (e.g., green consumption).
-Environmental management and public administration (e.g., food waste; recovery and recycling; charitable donation; vaccination).

Article Types Accepted include: Original Research; Review; Brief Research Report; Case Study; Hypothesis and Theory; Methods; Perspective; Conceptual Analysis.

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Frontiers in Psychology

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