Social Comparisons and Deception Across Workplace Hierarchies: Field and Experimental Evidence

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Edelman, Benjamin; Larkin, Ian
• 署名单位: Harvard University; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2014.0938
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 78-98
• 关键词: decision making; psychological processes; motivation; ETHICS; status

摘要

We examine how unfavorable social comparisons differentially spur employees of varying hierarchical levels to engage in deception. Drawing on literatures in social psychology and workplace self-esteem, we theorize that negative comparisons cause senior employees to seek to improve reported relative performance measures via deception. In a first study, we use deceptive self-downloads on the Social Science Research Network, the leading working paper repository in the social sciences, to show that employees higher in a hierarchy are more likely to engage in deception, particularly when the employee has enjoyed a high level of past success. In a second study, we confirm this finding in two scenario-based experiments. Our results suggest that longer-tenured and more successful employees face a greater loss of self-esteem from negative social comparisons, and they are more likely engage in deception in response to reported performance that is lower than that of peers.