{
  "title": "Not intervening: what inaction alone cannot justify",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/ne-pas-intervenir-ce-que-inaction-ne-suffit-pas-a-justifier-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-04-11",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "Harm caused by an intervention can seem less acceptable than harm allowed to occur. This asymmetry deserves scrutiny before inaction is treated as prudent decision-making.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Decision-making",
  "place": {
    "name": "Bern",
    "region": "Berne",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Mark Spranca, Elisa Minsk and Jonathan Baron (1991, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology) studied situations in which harm results either from an action or from an omission."
    },
    {
      "heading": "When avoiding intervention becomes a preference",
      "point": "Ilana Ritov and Jonathan Baron (1990, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making) examined this asymmetry in hypothetical vaccination choices."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "One might conclude that action should always be favoured; these studies do not justify that conclusion."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What these findings cannot measure",
      "point": "These studies rely on experimental scenarios and do not measure the prevalence of omission bias in organisations in Berne."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Berne",
      "point": "Within SHR’s « Prise de décision » programme, one exercise is to examine, over a month, documented choices between intervention and abstention in a Berne-based team working in federal administration, public health, telecommunications or precision manufacturing."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Baron",
      "year": "1991",
      "source": "Journal of Experimental Social Psychology"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Baron",
      "year": "1990",
      "source": "Journal of Behavioral Decision Making"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 414,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-04-11-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/ne-pas-intervenir-ce-que-inaction-ne-suffit-pas-a-justifier",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/ne-pas-intervenir-ce-que-inaction-ne-suffit-pas-a-justifier-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/ne-pas-intervenir-ce-que-inaction-ne-suffit-pas-a-justifier-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/ne-pas-intervenir-ce-que-inaction-ne-suffit-pas-a-justifier-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/prise-de-decision/berne",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/berne",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}