Management Science on the Credibility Bubble: Cardinal Sins and Various Misdemeanors.

This research-based essay presents survey results—collected from faculty in 104 PhD-granting management departments of AACSB-accredited business schools in the United States—regarding 11 different types of questionable research conduct, including data fabrication, data falsification, plagiarism, inappropriately accepting or assigning authorship credit, and publishing the same data or results in two or more publications. Findings suggest that instances of research misconduct covering a broad array of behaviors are not unknown to survey respondents. “The more you torture your data, the more likely they are to confess, but confessions obtained under duress may not be admissible in the court of scientific opinion.” —Steven M. Stigler, 1987: 148 Few events have attracted as much attention to the question of what constitutes “good science ” as re-cent disclosures associated with the operation of