It's often said that money corrupts. But a new study says that just the thought of getting some hard cash will do the trick.

The report by University of Utah and Harvard researchers found that individuals who could gain monetarily through unethical behavior were more likely to demonstrate that behavior than those who weren't offered a financial gain.



"Were were interested in why good people would do bad behavior," said Kristin Smith-Crowe, a management professor and co-author of the study released last month.

"We certainly found that the love of money is corrupting and just the mere exposure to it makes people do bad things," Smith-Crowe said.

Using 324 undergraduate students from the university, Smith-Crowe and her colleagues conducted four separate "games" in two different groups. One group was told of a financial reward for the behavior, the other was told there was no financial reward for doing the same behavior.

