When People at Work Go Astray, What to Say and How to Say It: A Typology and Test of the Effect of Moral Feedback on Unethical Behavior
2018
Unethical behavior is a phenomenon that is unavoidable
in the workplace. Ethical transgressors, when caught, often receive
feedback regarding their actions. Though such moral
feedback—feedback that is in response to an ethical
transgression—may be aimed at curtailing future unethical behavior,
I seek to demonstrate that under certain conditions, moral feedback
may promote subsequent unethical behavior. Specifically, I propose
that moral intensity and affective tone are two primary dimensions
of moral feedback that work together to affect ethical transgressor
moral disengagement and future behavior. The notion of moral
disengagement, which occurs when self-regulatory systems are
deactivated, may account for situations whereby individuals perform
unethical acts without associated guilt. Despite the burgeoning
literature on this theme, research has yet to examine whether
feedback from one individual can influence another individual’s
moral disengagement. This is surprising considering the idea of
moral disengagement stems from social cognitive theory which
emphasizes the role that external factors have in affecting
behavior. With my dissertation, I draw from research primarily in
social psychology to explore how moral feedback affects
transgressor moral disengagement. To do so, I develop a typology of
moral feedback and test how each moral feedback type affects
transgressor future behavior through moral
disengagement.
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