Opportunistic Behavior

Once when I was walking by the street, I found a wallet with a lot of cash and credit cards in it. If were to act opportunistically I would have taken the money and left the wallet where it was. Instead of leaving the wallet and taking the cash, I brought the wallet to the police station and gave it to the officer. The street was empty and no one was walking nearby, so it would have been easy for me to pick up the wallet unnoticed and take the cash. It was morally incorrect to take the wallet, despite the age old adage of "finders keepers" and thus I returned it. My actions in this situation were driven by the emotional side of me, trying to be a moral good citizen. Humans are not efficient creatures and our decisions can be irrational at times, or not always the most opportunistic one. This is because we prioritize the human interaction and moral values instead of always acting in profitable ways.

In this particular example, acting in an opportunistic manner was through unethical behavior. Taking a something that does not belong to you is unethical. However, opportunistic behavior does not always have to be unethical. For example, you found an opportunity to sell some goods for which you had a competitive advantage. This action is you taking advantage of your resources to make a profit. Acting opportunistically here was both ethical and rational.

Instead of opportunistic behavior just being unethical it is also illegal in many situations today. There are large number or rules and regulations which deter people from acting in an unfairly opportunistic way. Insider trading would be a prime example of this. Although one would deeply benefit from insider information, this act is illegal. Thus people do not act in an opportunistic way and give information which would benefit them. Most opportunistic behaviors today are thus highly regulated by the government.

Some people also do not act opportunistically because they believe in “karma” or that good things will happen to them if they wait and be patient. I do believe in this myself as I had also lost my wallet once. Similarly, my wallet was returned to me without any money or cards missing. Thus, having returned it once before, I was lucky enough to get it back myself. This brings up an interesting topic of how, if both parties acted opportunistically they would both have been worse off.

Detailing the above scenario. If both me and the person who found my wallet, kept it, instead of returning it. We both would have a different wallet, problems with the card, etc. but if both returned we would have been better off. This is a similar scenario to a prisoner’s dilemma wherein both parties can benefit by acting opportunistically, and the benefits of corporation. I feel people should act in an opportunistic manner if it benefits them and the other parties involved.

I think these explanations are all the same, since the way you act, opportunistically or not is dependent on your utility function or what you value. If a person wants his image to look good then he would not care about opportunistic behavior, but rather being a good citizen. If the person’s goal was maximizing profit without other regards, then he might partake in the opportunistic behavior even if it is unethical or illegal. Thus I feel these various explanations do amount to the same thing.