Abstract

The responses of organizations to incidents of misconduct associated with the research process are examined from the perspective of social control and Donald Black's propositions on social behavior and the law. The reactions of a university hospital, three federal agencies, Congress, a national commission, and a professional association and licensing board are described and analyzed to reveal the social variables important for forming a particular response. The reactions of organizations to allegations of misconduct in the principal case are compared to the responses of similar organizations to reports of alleged misconduct by researchers in twenty other cases. The contributions of group size, division of labor, and patterns of work relations within research groups to an environment favorable to undetected misconduct are explored. Using case materials of the twenty-one incidents, the role of rank, status, and behavioral characteristics important to the assignment of individuals to a social position in an organization and access to resources are analyzed for their significance in the imposition of negative sanctions for perceived misconduct. The same case materials are used to test some of Donald Black's propositions that social phenomena associated with the stratification, morphology, and the organization of social groups can explain legal behavior. The sample of cases used to test Black's propositions support his contention that rank and status are more important for eliciting negative sanctions than the nature of the offending behavior