Impacts of peers’ unethical behavior on employees’ ethical intention: Moderated mediation by Machiavellian orientation

Research suggests a direct negative relationship between peers’ unethical behavior and employees’ ethical intention. But several possible mechanisms might explain this relationship in more detail. For example, Machiavellianism is a personality trait characterized by interpersonal manipulation and the use of unethical means to achieve certain self‐interested ends, whether useful or pleasant. This article adopts an Aristotelian understanding of philia, related to three goods on which human relationships rest: useful, pleasant, and honest. We propose that Machiavellianism, a self‐interested, pragmatic personality orientation, might explicate the relationship between peers’ unethical behavior and ethical intention. The results of a structural equation model applied to a sample of 436 banking employees in Spain reveals that Machiavellianism partially mediates the relationship between peers’ unethical behavior and employees’ ethical intention. We also find that with a greater level of peers’ unethical behavior, the negative effect of Machiavellianism on ethical intention increases, and that when peers’ unethical behavior is nonexistent, the negative effect of Machiavellianism on ethical intention disappears. These findings advance current literature by revealing that unethical peers can indirectly influence ethical intention, through shaping Machiavellianism. Our study is also the first to show that pairing high Machiavellians with ethical peers can help to cancel out the negative influence of Machiavellianism on ethical intention.     

Unethical and Unwell: Decrements in Well-Being and Unethical Activity at Work

Previous research on unethical business behavior usually has focused on its impact from a financial or philosophical perspective. While such foci are important to our understanding of unethical behavior, we argue that another set of outcomes linked to individual well-being are critical as well. Using data from psychological, criminological, and epidemiological sources, we propose a model of unethical behavior and well-being. This model postulates that decrements in well-being result from stress or trauma stemming from being victimized by, engaging in, or witnessing unethical behavior, or even from being associated with individuals involved in such behavior.     

Unethical behavior in information systems: The gender factor

This article reports the findings of a survey examining whether gender differences influence the degree to which individuals recognize unethical conduct in the use and development of information technology. The results show that, on the average, there is a significant gender gap in the recognition of unethical behavior in information systems. Although, women are better able to recognize unethical actions described in information systems scenarios than men, the existence of statistically significant differences varies depending upon the nature of the ethical dilemma. The findings of this study provide both managers and researchers valuable understanding regarding the differences (and similarities) in the reactions of individuals of both genders to unethical situations in information systems.Deepak Khazanchi is an assistant professor of information systems (IS) in the college of business at Northern Kentucky University. His recent publications and research interests focus on IS support for ill-structured problem understanding, ethical/pedagogical issues in IS, and impact of advanced information technologies in organizations.     

Moral attentiveness as a boundary condition: Servant leadership and the impact of supervisor affiliation on pro-group unethical behavior

Based on social exchange theory, this research aims to develop and test a model in which supervisor affiliation mediates the impact of servant leadership on employees’ pro-group unethical behavior a highly competitive intergroup environment. Using a sample of 239 employees from 39 groups in four foreign-owned engineering enterprises, we found that supervisor affiliation mediated the positive relationship between servant leadership and employees’ pro-group unethical behavior. Our results also revealed that employees’ moral attentiveness weakened the positive impact of supervisor affiliation on pro-group unethical behavior. The current study contributes to business ethics research by advancing our understanding of antecedents of pro-group unethical behavior as well as how servant leadership leads to employees’ unethical behaviors. Implications for theory, practice, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Platforms for Cross-Sector Social Partnerships: Prospective Sensemaking Devices for Social Benefit

We employ a Layers of Workplace Influence theory to guide our study of whistleblowing among public accounting audit seniors. Specifically, we examine professional commitment, organizational commitment versus colleague commitment (locus of commitment), and moral intensity of the unethical behavior on two measures of reporting intentions: likelihood of reporting and perseverance in reporting. We find that moral intensity relates to both reporting intention measures. In addition, while high levels of professional identity increase the likelihood that an auditor will initially report an observed violation, the auditor’s commitment to the organization drives perseverance in reporting. Results may assist organizations and researchers in their understanding of antecedents to whistleblowing as a form of corporate governance and of the effect of these antecedents on whistleblowing perseverance.     

When Lying Does Not Pay: How Experts Detect Insurance Fraud

A growing literature has focused on understanding how to detect and deter unethical consumer behavior. In this work, we focus on a particularly important type of unethical consumer behavior, consumer insurance fraud, and we analyze a unique dataset to understand how experts investigate suspicious claims. Two separate but related literatures inform the process of investigating suspicious insurance claims. The first literature is grounded in field research and emphasizes the importance of secondary sources. The second literature is grounded in laboratory studies that emphasize the importance of interpersonal interactions. Here we draw upon both literatures to consider the importance of claimant interviews within the context of many investigative actions and the potential for claimants to avoid interviews. In an empirical study using qualitative and quantitative data from auto insurance claim investigations, we analyze investigative chronologies conducted by skilled experts. In doing so, we find that even when investigators can access information from a variety of sources such as witnesses, databases, and physical evidence, claimant interviews are the most important step in determining whether or not claims are denied or paid. Furthermore, we identify interpersonal avoidance as an important signal of unethical claimant behavior. Our findings inform deception detection theory and practice. We identify implications for deception detection in business, particularly for consumer unethical behavior and insurance fraud investigations.     

Investigating the Impacts of Organizational Factors on Employees’ Unethical Behavior Within Organization in the Context of Chinese Firms

Unethical behavior is under-examined in the workplace. To date, few studies have attempted to explore the antecedents of an employee’s ethical decisions, particularly with respect to unethical behavior and its effects. To capture an employee’s psychological perception of unethical behavior in the workplace, this paper integrates organizational factors (codes of conduct, likelihood of detection, and performance pressure) into the Theory of Reasoned Action. By conducting an empirical study in a Chinese firm, we found that codes of conduct and performance pressure have a significant influence on an employee’s attitude toward and social beliefs about unethical behavior. We also demonstrated that employees’ unethical behaviors affect the firm performance of an entrepreneurial venture. The insights gleaned from the findings on this Chinese company have a number of important implications for both research and practice.     

Virtuousness and the Common Good as a Conceptual Framework for Harmonizing the Goals of the Individual,Organizations, and the Economy

Despite the expansion of the regulatory state, we continue to witness widespread unethical practices across society. This paper addresses these challenges of ethical failure, misalignment, and dissonance by developing a conceptual framework that provides an explicit basis for understanding virtuousness and the common good directed toward the goal of eudaimonia or human flourishing. While much of the literature on virtuousness has focused on the organization, this paper uses a more comprehensive understanding that also incorporates the agent and the economy examined through their relational order. The common good provides direction for guiding behavior of all the various stakeholders and the context for understanding virtuousness, while it is through virtuousness that the common good is effectively realized. Virtuousness and the common good are therefore in effect ‘two sides of the same coin.’ This paper develops a virtuousness–common good conceptual framework which explores the basis for harmonizing the goals of the individual, organization, and the economy.     

Love of Money and Unethical Behavior Intention: Does an Authentic Supervisor’s Personal Integrity and Character (ASPIRE) Make a Difference?

We investigate the extent to which perceptions of the authenticity of supervisor’s personal integrity and character (ASPIRE) moderate the relationship between people’s love of money (LOM) and propensity to engage in unethical behavior (PUB) among 266 part-time employees who were also business students in a five-wave panel study. We found that a high level of ASPIRE perceptions was related to high love-of-money orientation, high self-esteem, but low unethical behavior intention (PUB). Unethical behavior intention (PUB) was significantly correlated with their high Machiavellianism, low self-esteem, and low intrinsic religiosity. Our counterintuitive results revealed that the main effect of LOM on PUB was not significant, but the main effect of ASPIRE on PUB was significant. Further, the significant interaction effect between LOM and ASPIRE on unethical behavior intention provided profoundly interesting findings: High LOM was related to high unethical behavior intention for people with low ASPIRE, but was related to low unethical intention for those with high ASPIRE. People with high LOM and low ASPIRE had the highest unethical behavior intention; whereas those with high LOM and high ASPIRE had the lowest. We discuss results in light of individual differences, ethical environment, and perceived demand characteristics.     

The relationship between ethical and customer-oriented service provider behaviors

This study examines the relationship between the ethical behavior and customer orientation of insurance sales agents engaged in the selling of complex services, e.g. health, life, auto, and property insurance. The effect of ethical and customer-oriented behavior, measured by the SOCO scale (Saxe and Weitz, 1982), on the annual premiums generated by the agents is also investigated. Customeroriented sales agents are found to engage in less unethical behavior than their sales-oriented counterparts. Further, sales-oriented agents are found to perceive greater levels of unethical behavior among their significant others. Alarmingly, higher levels of sales premiums are found among those agents who engage in unethical behavior.     

The effects of social and moral integration on ethical standards: A comparison of American and Ukrainian business students

This paper examines levels of similarity in ethical outlooks in countries where economic and sociocultural values may differ markedly. We compared students from a capitalist country, the United States, with students from Ukraine, a country experiencing dramatic ideological confusion and economic change. We tested the hypothesis that greater social and moral integration, as operationalized by a lack of alienation and by religiousness, will directly affect one's willingness to engage in unethical business practices.The sample was composed of business students in both Ukraine and the United States. The survey instrument consisted of widely used scales for measuring alienation and religiousness. The measure of ethical standards was a vignette-based quasi-projective technique.Results showed that, for the sample as a whole, willingness to engage in unethical business behavior was related to higher levels of alienation and lower levels of religiousness. The Ukrainians were also much more willing to engage in unethical behavior than were the Americans. The explanation for this difference is unclear, however. For the Ukrainians, religiousness and alienation did not explain the patterns in unethical behavior, and relationships were very weak for the Americans. There may be some unmeasured factor, such as economic exigency, that is influencing the results. It simply may be that people choose to behave more ethically when they have the luxury to do so. Dr. Ellen Kennedy and Dr. Leigh Lawton are Professors in the Department of Marketing at the University of St. Thomas. They have published several articles together in the Journal of Business Ethics and in Industrial Marketing Management. Most of their research deals with cross-cultural ethics.     

The Influence of Unethical Peer Behavior on Observers’ Unethical Behavior: A Social Cognitive Perspective

The relationship between unethical peer behavior and observers?? unethical behavior traditionally has been examined from a social learning perspective. We employ two additional theoretical lenses, social identity theory and social comparison theory, each of which offers additional insight into this relationship. Data from 600 undergraduate business students in two universities provide support for all the three perspectives, suggesting that unethical behavior is influenced by social learning, social identity, and social comparison processes. Implications for managers and future research are discussed.     

(Un)Ethical Behavior and Performance Appraisal: The Role of Affect,Support, and Organizational Justice

Performance appraisals are widely used as an HR instrument. This study among 332 police officers examines the effects of performance appraisals from a behavioral ethics perspective. A mediation model relating justice perceptions of police officers’ last performance appraisal to their work affect, perceived supervisor and organizational support and, in turn, their ethical (pro-organizational proactive) and unethical (counterproductive) work behavior was tested empirically. The relationship between justice perceptions and both, ethical and unethical behavior was mediated by perceived support and work affect. Hence, a singular yearly performance appraisal was linked to both ethical and unethical behaviors at work. The finding that ethical and unethical aspects of employee behavior share several of the same organizational antecedents, namely organizational justice perceptions, has strong practical implications which are discussed as well.     

Consumer Reactions to Unethical Service Recovery

Ethical business practices have been widely prescribed, but why? Consumer’s views on unethical business practices have been studied, but possibly more important to marketers and researchers are consumer actions and reactions to unethical business practices and the businesses themselves. Do consumers react negatively, or in such a way as to "punish" the unethical business? If so, what is the nature and extent of the punishment? This research seeks answers to these questions by examining consumer reactions, such as complaining and switching, to instances of unethical business practices. Using equity theory, this research proposes that consumers should be willing to tolerate some unethical behavior as long as they feel their investments and outcomes remain proportionately equal. Consumers who perceive that their outcome/investment ratio is proportionately unequal to their comparison other will respond by switching or complaining. In this research consumers were exposed to two types of service failures with different levels of service recovery in vignettes. Costs incurred by the consumer during the service transaction were also manipulated in the vignettes. Significant differences were found for complaint behavior in the failure recovery vignettes tested. Specifically, voice complaint was higher in the high cost service encounters in both types of services tested. The recovery attempt used (ethical, unethical, or none) led to significance differences in the variables of complaint, voice complaint, satisfaction, and quality. Higher satisfaction and quality ratings were found for the ethical recovery attempt and higher intentions to use complaint and voice complaint in the unethical recovery attempts. One significant interaction between cost and recovery attempt was found. Intentions to use voice complaint were higher in the high cost situations of ethical and unethical recovery, while approaching equality at the no recovery attempt.     

The Impact of Relative Position and Relational Closeness on the Reporting of Unethical Acts

Empowerment and teamwork are buzzwords of progressive human resource practices. Along with these new job design methods come reduced hierarchical control mechanisms. In light of recent ethical scandals, there is considerable concern regarding the effectiveness of the control systems of these more recent work designs. This study compared the willingness of participants to report unethical behavior when presented with work scenarios in which the perpetrator was in the relative position of team member, peer, or subordinate and in cohesive or non-cohesive conditions of relational closeness. After accounting for the covariates, both main effects and interaction effects were found, indicating that reporting behavior was influenced by relative position and relational closeness. Diane Miller is an associate professor of organizational behavior in the Faculty of Management at the University of Lethbridge. Diane has published in Small Group Research and The Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences. Her research interests focus on team processes and outcomes, and include studies of the diversity and measurement of teams. Dr. Stuart Thomas is an assistant professor of accounting at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. Stuart has published in the Journal of Accounting Case Research, Advances in Management Accounting, Research on Professional Responsibility, and Ethics in Accounting. His current research focuses on ethical decision-making and the effects of various pay schemes on performance and work standard setting.     

Methodological Issues in the Design of Online Surveys for Measuring Unethical Work Behavior: Recommendations on the Basis of a Split-Ballot Experiment

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in unethical work behavior. Several types of survey instruments to collect information about unethical work behavior are available. Nevertheless, to date little attention has been paid to design issues of those surveys. There are, however, several important problems that may influence reliability and validity of questionnaire data on the topic, such as social desirability bias. This paper addresses two important issues in the design of online surveys on unethical work behavior: the response scale for questions regarding the frequency of certain types of unethical work behavior and the location of the background questions in an online survey. We present the results of an analysis of a double split-ballot experiment in a large sample (n = 3,386) on governmental integrity. We found that, when comparing response scales that have labels for all categories with response scales that only have anchors at the end, the latter provided answers with higher validity. The study did not provide support for the conventional practice of asking background questions at the end.     

Interdependent self-construal in collectivist cultures: Effects on compliance in a cause-related marketing context

This study is a replication and extension of prior work on the effectiveness of cause-related marketing efforts. We show that compliance behavior across cultures can be different depending on the dominant self-construal paradigm prevalent in a given society. The original study had shown that people in independent self-construal societies (individualist countries such as the USA) are unwilling to follow up on their original commitment (to support rainforest protection) if compliance involves bearing the cost of such action (paying a higher price for a product where part of the price is donated to rainforest protection). This study, drawing on a sample of students at a mid-sized university in northern Poland, shows that commitment–consistency works in collectivist, interdependent self-construal societies in a different way: if the cause being supported is of a pro-social nature, people in such societies are willing to pay the higher product price to support it.     

The Relationship Between Ethical Leadership and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior: Linear or Curvilinear Effects?

In this study, we examine the nature of the relationship between ethical leadership and unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB), defined as unethical behavior conducted by employees with the aim of benefiting their organization, and whether the strength of the relationship differs between subordinates experiencing high and low identification with supervisor. Based on three-wave survey data obtained from 239 public sector employees in China, we find that ethical leadership has an inverted u-shaped (curvilinear) relationship with UPB. As the level of ethical leadership increases from low to moderate, UPB increases; as the level of ethical leadership increases from moderate to high, UPB decreases. Further, we find that the strength of this inverted u-curve relationship differs between subordinates with high and low identification with supervisor. That is to say, the inverted u-shaped relationship between ethical leadership and UPB was stronger when subordinates experienced high levels of identification with supervisor. The theoretical and managerial implications of our findings for understanding how to manage UPB in an organizational context are discussed.     

领导排斥对员工亲组织非伦理行为的影响：自我提升动机的中介作用

基于自我提升理论,从自我提升动机和马基雅维利主义视角出发,探讨了领导排斥对员工亲组织非伦理行为的作用机制。通过对两阶段收集的451份问卷进行数据分析,结果发现:领导排斥对员工亲组织非伦理行为具有显著正向影响;员工自我提升动机在领导排斥与员工亲组织非伦理行为关系中起中介作用;员工马基雅维利主义调节了其自我提升动机与亲组织非伦理行为间的关系,即员工马基雅维利主义水平越高,其自我提升动机对亲组织非伦理行为的正向影响越强;员工马基雅维利主义正向调节员工自我提升动机在领导排斥与亲组织非伦理行为间的中介作用,即员工马基雅维利主义水平越高,其自我提升动机的中介作用越强。研究结论不仅拓展了领导排斥理论的研究,也为管理者正确认识领导排斥、管理员工遭受领导排斥后的认知与行为提供了新思路。     

The impact of corporate behavior on perceived product value

This research examines how ethical and unethical corporate behavior influence the perceived value of a firm's products, operationalized as the price consumers are willing to pay for that product relative to the competition. We propose that if consumers expect companies to conduct business ethically, then ethical behavior will not be rewarded but unethical behavior will be punished. The results of the first study confirm this expectation. The second study explored ways a firm can improve the perceived value of its products after an unethical act has been committed. Our results indicate that after a firm has committed an unethical act, consumer's perceptions of that company and its products were positively influenced by ethical behavior, corporate philanthropy, and cause-related marketing. However, our analyses revealed that these different strategies varied in their effectiveness. The third study used a choice task, rather than a judgment task, to confirm the finding that corporate behavior does influence perceived product value and is therefore likely to influence market choices. The implications of these findings are discussed.