Bad Apples, Bad Cases, and Bad Barrels: Meta-Analytic Evidence About Sources of Unethical Decisions at Work

• 成果类型: Review
• 署名作者: Kish-Gephart, Jennifer J.; Harrison, David A.; Trevino, Linda Klebe
• 署名单位: Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/a0017103
• 发表日期: 2010
• 页码: 1-31
• 关键词: unethical behavior; INTUITION; decision making; Intention

摘要

As corporate scandals proliferate, practitioners and researchers alike need a cumulative, quantitative understanding of the antecedents associated with unethical decisions in organizations. In this meta-analysis, the authors draw from over 30 years of research and multiple literatures to examine individual (bad apple), moral issue (bad case), and organizational environment (bad barrel) antecedents of unethical choice. Findings provide empirical support for several foundational theories and paint a clearer picture of relationships characterized by mixed results. Structural equation modeling revealed the complexity (multidetermined nature) of unethical choice, as well as a need for research that simultaneously examines different sets of antecedents. Moderator analyses unexpectedly uncovered better prediction of unethical behavior than of intention for several variables. This suggests a need to more strongly consider a new ethical impulse perspective in addition to the traditional ethical calculus perspective. Results serve as a data-based foundation and guide for future theoretical and empirical development in the domain of behavioral ethics.