Greed: A Multilevel Interdisciplinary Review

Abstract

Greed, one of the oldest social constructs, has been lauded for driving competition and economic ambition that stimulates economic growth and enables technological progress. It has also been ostracized as the root cause of economic inequality, global poverty, and climate change as it prioritizes short-term profits over sustainable, equitable development. While the concept of greed informs a wide range of disciplines, including organizational behavior, psychology, strategic management, marketing, political science, economics, and finance, it lacks construct clarity and a commonly accepted definition. Our bibliometric review of the greed literature reveals that it is characterized by 10 major, loosely connected communities that consider greed at varying levels of analysis. We propose a conceptual definition of greed incorporating acquisitiveness, excess, and harm, which appear across these communities. We categorize research communities based on level of analysis and critically review each community’s core disciplines, treatment of greed, and focal economic, social, and psychological outcomes. Our multilevel framework integrates scholarly work on greed and serves as a basis for future research.