There’s an old saying from Japan that directly translates into English as, “A liar is the beginning of a thief.” Others might have heard a more common saying that, “Cannabis is a gateway drug.” These expressions both refer to the one idea; a small mistake or action that leads to more appalling actions.  Unethical business operations are very similar, in a sense that people may start with small, irrelevant, yet unethical acts, which leads to larger transgressions.

Source:  http://www.sirlin.net/articles/slippery-slope-and-perpetual-comeback.html

“The Slippery-Slope Effect” is a very accurate way to put these kind of things.  It models why people tend to continue to do something once they go down a certain path. Brian Borzykowski’s article is intriguing because he claims that people will cheat more and more when they are presented with the opportunity and incentive.  The companies that don’t discuss business ethics on a regular basis are more prone to this fraudulent activity.

How can these normal, business workers find themselves in such situations? Everyone can be a part of this cheating behaviour, due to external factors such as deadlines and trying to live up to expectations.  People may get desperate in these situations and the businesses must work even harder to reduce the incentive of cheating.  Some examples of this include talking about risk factors, enforcing business ethics, and even creating a positive environment within the workplace.  A positive environment would create a better, productive work place in which people may have less incentive to conduct unethical acts.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140806-the-slippery-slope