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The role of moral identity in the aftermath of dishonesty

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  • Mulder, Laetitia B.
  • Aquino, Karl

Abstract

People lie on a regular basis. However, lying can pose a threat to the self-view of being an honest and moral person. How do people respond to their previous dishonest acts? A way to deal with psychological discomfort arisen for previous lying is reconfirming oneself to be an honest and moral person, for example, by showing subsequent moral behavior. We hypothesize that people engage in this reconfirmation depending on whether their moral identity is central to their self-concept. This was supported in three studies in which, compared to low moral identifiers, high moral identifiers engaged in more efforts to uphold a moral self-image and were more likely to show a compensatory reaction rather than a consistency reaction to their previous dishonesty. Implications for the topics of moral self-regulation and compensatory ethics and for the concept of moral identity are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Mulder, Laetitia B. & Aquino, Karl, 2013. "The role of moral identity in the aftermath of dishonesty," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 219-230.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:121:y:2013:i:2:p:219-230
    DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2013.03.005
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    5. Ayelet Gneezy & Alex Imas & Amber Brown & Leif D. Nelson & Michael I. Norton, 2012. "Paying to Be Nice: Consistency and Costly Prosocial Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(1), pages 179-187, January.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Gwarlann de Kerviler & Caroline Ardelet & Barbara Slavich, 2022. "Ethical judgments of sexualized ads featuring Women: The role of identification with feminine archetypes," Post-Print hal-03600339, HAL.
    3. de Kerviler, Gwarlann & Ardelet, Caroline & Slavich, Barbara, 2022. "Ethical judgments of sexualized ads featuring Women: The role of identification with feminine archetypes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 899-913.
    4. Kulow, Katina & Kwon, Mina & Barone, Michael J., 2021. "Does seeing bad make you do good? How witnessing retail transgressions influence responses to cause marketing offers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 680-692.
    5. Wang, Juehui & Chieh Chen, Chih & Shen, Tao & Fan, Fan & Fosh, Patricia & Guo, Yuxuan, 2024. "Family matters! Antecedents and boundary conditions of unethical pro-family behaviors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    6. Fath, Sean & Kay, Aaron C., 2018. "“If hierarchical, then corrupt”: Exploring people’s tendency to associate hierarchy with corruption in organizations," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 145-164.
    7. Fanghella, Valeria & Thøgersen, John, 2022. "Experimental evidence of moral cleansing in the interpersonal and environmental domains," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    8. George I. Christopoulos & Xiao-Xiao Liu & Ying-yi Hong, 2017. "Toward an Understanding of Dynamic Moral Decision Making: Model-Free and Model-Based Learning," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(4), pages 699-715, September.
    9. Xianchun Zhang & Zhu Yao, 2019. "Impact of relational leadership on employees’ unethical pro-organizational behavior: A survey based on tourism companies in four countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(12), pages 1-19, December.
    10. Schaumberg, Rebecca L. & Wiltermuth, Scott S., 2014. "Desire for a positive moral self-regard exacerbates escalation of commitment to initiatives with prosocial aims," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 110-123.
    11. Mulder, Laetitia B. & Rink, Floor & Jordan, Jennifer, 2020. "Constraining temptation: How specific and general rules mitigate the effect of personal gain on unethical behavior," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    12. Zhao, Hongdan & Zhao, Siyong & Chen, Yuanhua & Yu, Xiaoyu, 2023. "Bystanders’ reactions to leader knowledge hiding: The roles of moral disengagement and moral identity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    13. Guang-Xin Xie & Hua Chang & Tracy Rank-Christman, 2022. "Contesting Dishonesty: When and Why Perspective-Taking Decreases Ethical Tolerance of Marketplace Deception," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 117-133, January.
    14. Claire Mouminoux, 2023. "Can misfortune lead to dishonesty?," Rationality and Society, , vol. 35(3), pages 293-310, August.

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