Investigating the Effects of Moral Disengagement and Participation on Unethical Work Behavior

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 104; no. 1; pp. 59 - 75
• Main Author: Barsky, Adam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01.11.2011; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Series: Journal of Business Ethics
• Subjects: Banduras; Behavior; Business and Management; Business Ethics; Cognition & reasoning; Corruption; Deception; Decision making; Education; Employees; Employment; Ethical behavior; Ethical codes; Ethical justification; Ethics; Goal setting; Labor policy; Lying; Management; Moral disengagement; Moral judgment; Morality; Participation; Philosophy; Political ethics; Professional ethics; Psychology; Quality of Life Research; Regulation; Sanctions; Self-regulation; Social ethics; Social responsibility of business; Surveys; Working conditions; Moral disengagement; Participation; Business ethics; Self-regulation
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-011-0889-7

With massive corruption uncovered in numerous recent corporate scandals, investigating psychological processes underlying unethical behavior among employees has become a critical area of research for organizational scientists. This article seeks to explain why people engage in deceptive and fraudulent activities by focusing on the use of moral-disengagement tactics or rationalizations to justify egregious actions at work. In addition, participation in goal-setting is argued to attenuate the relationship between moral disengagement and unethical behavior. Across two studies, a lab simulation and field survey, a measure of moral disengagement was developed for use with working adults. The hypothesized main and interactive effects of moral disengagement, participation, and unethical behavior were tested and largely confirmed.