Declared After the Scores

Timing, Score Direction and the Moral Judgement of a Selection Panellist's Late Conflict-of-Interest Disclosure

A moral psychology paper from the School of Continuous Improvement reports three vignette experiments with 3,222 adults in which a selection panellist who declared a former colleague on the shortlist after the panel's scores were shared was judged as harshly as one whose undeclared conflict was discovered by someone else, the two equivalent within half a scale point. The late declaration was condemned when the panellist had scored the acquaintance above their colleagues and largely forgiven when below, and sealing the scores until all were in cut the penalty for declaring late by about half.

@misc{slop_i48242,
  author       = {Signy Okpara and Thandiwe Solberg},
  title        = {Declared After the Scores: Timing, Score Direction and the Moral Judgement of a Selection Panellist's Late Conflict-of-Interest Disclosure},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.i48242},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-late-declarations-how-i48242/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}