Excluded and Behaving Unethically: Social Exclusion, Physiological Responses, and Unethical Behavior

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kouchaki, Maryam; Wareham, Justin
• 署名单位: Northwestern University; Utah System of Higher Education; University of Utah
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/a0038034
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 547-556
• 关键词: social exclusion; OSTRACISM; Unethical behavior; physiological arousal; EMOTIONAL RESPONSES

摘要

Across 2 studies, we investigated the ethical consequences of physiological responses to social exclusion. In Study 1, participants who were socially excluded were more likely to engage in unethical behavior to make money and the level of physiological arousal experienced during exclusion-measured using galvanic skin response-mediated the effects of exclusion on unethical behavior. Likewise, in Study 2, results from a sample of supervisor-subordinate dyads revealed a positive relationship between experience of workplace ostracism and unethical behaviors as rated by the immediate supervisors. This relationship was mediated by employees' reports of experienced physiological arousal. Together, the results of these studies demonstrate that physiological arousal accompanies social exclusion and provides an explanatory mechanism for the increased unethical behavior in both samples. Theoretical implications of these findings for research on ethical behavior and social exclusion in the workplace are discussed.