It is an everyday story of professionals working in any field, to say that they are required to "behave professionally", even if the situation was such that it required a human reaction to it. A new Cornell University study found that employees or managers who viewed themselves as professional were more vulnerable to unethical behaviour such as conflicts of interest.

Safeguards from bias are more likely to fail in people with a high self-concept of professionalism, according to the study, "The Professionalism Paradox: Professionalism Increases Vulnerability to Conflicts of Interest," was published in the journal Academy of Management Perspectives.