Examining the Moral Grey Zone: The Role of Moral Disengagement, Authenticity, and Situational Strength in predicting Unethical Managerial Behaviour

Knoll, M.; Lord, R.; Petersen, L.-E.; Weigelt, O.

Abstract

In the business context, there is a broad spectrum of practices that potentially harm others, yet might benefit the organization. We examined the influence of individual and situational differences in predicting (un)ethical behavior in these moral gray zones using an in-basket exercise that included covert moral issues in which managers could give unethical instructions to their followers. Results show that individual differences in moral disengagement directly predicted unethical behavior and functioned as a mediator of the relationship between authenticity and unethical behavior. Furthermore, effects differed in weak compared to strong situations. Study 2, replicated the results from Study 1, developed a direct test of the situational strength hypothesis, and showed that high versus low situation strength moderated the relation of moral disengagement to unethical behavior.

Citation

Knoll, M., Lord, R., Petersen, L., & Weigelt, O. (2016). Examining the Moral Grey Zone: The Role of Moral Disengagement, Authenticity, and Situational Strength in predicting Unethical Managerial Behaviour. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 46(1), 65-78. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12353

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 29, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Oct 6, 2015
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jul 3, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 6, 2017
• Journal: Journal of Applied Social Psychology
• Print ISSN: 0021-9029
• Electronic ISSN: 1559-1816
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 46
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 65-78
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12353
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1402818