A fundamental cause of ethical erosion in individuals and, ultimately, in organisations, is the availability of compelling arguments to rationalise and justify decisions that conflict with moral intuitions and ethical commitments. One prominent example is the focus of this review - the replacement excuse, which can be summarised as “if I don’t do it, someone else will” or “the outcome will be the same whether I participate or not”.

The concept of replacement suggests that if one party chooses not to take advantage of an opportunity, there is likely to b...