IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v147y2018i1d10.1007_s10551-015-2947-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Men, Mammals, or Machines? Dehumanization Embedded in Organizational Practices

Author

Listed:
  • Tuure Väyrynen

    (University of Oulu)

  • Sari Laari-Salmela

    (University of Oulu)

Abstract

The present study combines dehumanization research with the concept of organizational trust to examine how employees perceive various types of maltreatment embedded within the organizational practices that form the ethical climate of an organization. With the help of grounded theory methodology, we analyzed 188 employment exit interview transcripts from an ICT subcontracting company. By examining perceived trustworthiness and perceived humanness, we found that dehumanizing employees can deteriorate trust within organizations. The violations found in the empirical material were divided into animalistic and mechanistic forms of dehumanization and linked to perceived integrity and benevolence, respectively. Based on the results, a model describing the link between dehumanization and trust is presented and discussed in relation to the ways in which perceptions of humanness become rooted in practices and affect the basic assumptions underlying (un-)ethical organizational behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Tuure Väyrynen & Sari Laari-Salmela, 2018. "Men, Mammals, or Machines? Dehumanization Embedded in Organizational Practices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 95-113, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:147:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2947-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2947-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-015-2947-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-015-2947-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. DeConinck, James B., 2011. "The effects of ethical climate on organizational identification, supervisory trust, and turnover among salespeople," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(6), pages 617-624, June.
    2. Maureen Ambrose & Anke Arnaud & Marshall Schminke, 2008. "Individual Moral Development and Ethical Climate: The Influence of Person–Organization Fit on Job Attitudes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 77(3), pages 323-333, February.
    3. Dennis A. Gioia & Kumar Chittipeddi, 1991. "Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(6), pages 433-448, September.
    4. Kelly Martin & John Cullen, 2006. "Continuities and Extensions of Ethical Climate Theory: A Meta-Analytic Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(2), pages 175-194, December.
    5. Schminke, Marshall & Ambrose, Maureen L. & Neubaum, Donald O., 2005. "The effect of leader moral development on ethical climate and employee attitudes," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 135-151, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kihun Kim & Zulfiquer Ali Haider & Zhenyu Wu & Junsheng Dou, 2020. "Corporate Social Performance of Family Firms: A Place-Based Perspective in the Context of Layoffs," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(2), pages 235-252, November.
    2. Francis Cheung, 2022. "Work-Related Smartphone Use at Night and Job Satisfaction: Testing a Moderated Mediation Model of Emotional Exhaustion and Organizational Dehumanization," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-14, August.
    3. Carine Farias & Tapiwa Seremani & Pablo D. Fernández, 2021. "Popular Culture, Moral Narratives and Organizational Portrayals: A Multimodal Reflexive Analysis of a Reality Television Show," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(2), pages 211-226, June.
    4. Eva Ariño-Mateo & Raúl Ramírez-Vielma & Matías Arriagada-Venegas & Gabriela Nazar-Carter & David Pérez-Jorge, 2022. "Validation of the Organizational Dehumanization Scale in Spanish-Speaking Contexts," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-14, April.
    5. Luke Fowler & Stephen Utych, 2021. "Are people better employees than machines? Dehumanizing language and employee performance appraisals," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(4), pages 2006-2019, July.
    6. Ayesha Scott, 2023. "Financial Abuse in a Banking Context: Why and How Financial Institutions can Respond," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(4), pages 679-694, November.
    7. Eva Ariño-Mateo & Matías Arriagada Venegas & Carlos Mora-Luis & David Pérez-Jorge, 2024. "The level of conscientiousness trait and technostress: a moderated mediation model," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert Cialdini & Yexin Jessica Li & Adriana Samper & Ned Wellman, 2021. "How Bad Apples Promote Bad Barrels: Unethical Leader Behavior and the Selective Attrition Effect," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(4), pages 861-880, February.
    2. Pablo Ruiz-Palomino & Ricardo Martínez-Cañas & Joan Fontrodona, 2013. "Ethical Culture and Employee Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Person-Organization Fit," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 173-188, August.
    3. Hsieh, Hui-Hsien & Wang, Yau-De, 2016. "Linking perceived ethical climate to organizational deviance: The cognitive, affective, and attitudinal mechanisms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3600-3608.
    4. Pablo Ruiz-Palomino & Ricardo Martínez-Cañas, 2014. "Ethical Culture, Ethical Intent, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Moderating and Mediating Role of Person–Organization Fit," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 95-108, March.
    5. Jelena Spanjol & Leona Tam & Vivian Tam, 2015. "Employer–Employee Congruence in Environmental Values: An Exploration of Effects on Job Satisfaction and Creativity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 117-130, August.
    6. M. Guerci & Giovanni Radaelli & Elena Siletti & Stefano Cirella & A. Rami Shani, 2015. "The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices and Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Ethical Climates: An Employee Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(2), pages 325-342, January.
    7. Rai, Arpana & Kim, Minseo & Singh, Sanjay Kumar, 2023. "Meaningful work from ethics perspective: Examination of ethical antecedents and outcomes of meaningful work," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    8. K. Parboteeah & Hsien Chen & Ying-Tzu Lin & I-Heng Chen & Amber Lee & Anyi Chung, 2010. "Establishing Organizational Ethical Climates: How Do Managerial Practices Work?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 97(4), pages 599-611, December.
    9. Jorien L. Pruijssers & Pursey P. M. A. R. Heugens & J. Oosterhout, 2020. "Winning at a Losing Game? Side-Effects of Perceived Tournament Promotion Incentives in Audit Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 149-167, February.
    10. Omar S. Itani & Nawar N. Chaker, 2022. "Harnessing the Power Within: The Consequences of Salesperson Moral Identity and the Moderating Role of Internal Competitive Climate," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(4), pages 847-871, December.
    11. Tanja Rabl & María Carmen Triana & Seo-Young Byun & Laura Bosch, 2020. "Diversity Management Efforts as an Ethical Responsibility: How Employees’ Perceptions of an Organizational Integration and Learning Approach to Diversity Affect Employee Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(3), pages 531-550, January.
    12. M. Fernanda Wagstaff & Gabriela L. Flores & Albert Cannella & Sayan Sarkar & Christine Choirat, 2021. "Construct Validity of Unobtrusive Measures of Organizational Ethical Climates," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(3), pages 158-177, August.
    13. Laurent Auzoult & Crisanta-Alina Mazilescu, 2021. "Ethical Climate as Social Norm: Impact on Judgements and Behavioral Intentions in the Workplace," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-9, June.
    14. William E. Shafer, 2009. "Ethical climate, organizational‐professional conflict and organizational commitment," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(7), pages 1087-1110, September.
    15. Stephen V. Burks & Erin L. Krupka, 2012. "A Multimethod Approach to Identifying Norms and Normative Expectations Within a Corporate Hierarchy: Evidence from the Financial Services Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(1), pages 203-217, January.
    16. Sora Lee & Jaewon Yoo, 2021. "What Makes Employees Behave Innovatively? Empirical Evidence from South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-17, December.
    17. Mitchell Neubert & Dawn Carlson & K. Kacmar & James Roberts & Lawrence Chonko, 2009. "The Virtuous Influence of Ethical Leadership Behavior: Evidence from the Field," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(2), pages 157-170, December.
    18. Omar S. Itani & Fernando Jaramillo & Larry Chonko, 2019. "Achieving Top Performance While Building Collegiality in Sales: It All Starts with Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(2), pages 417-438, May.
    19. Nedkovski, Vojkan & Guerci, Marco & De Battisti, Francesca & Siletti, Elena, 2017. "Organizational ethical climates and employee's trust in colleagues, the supervisor, and the organization," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 19-26.
    20. Elizabeth Sheedy & Patrick Garcia & Denise Jepsen, 2021. "The Role of Risk Climate and Ethical Self-interest Climate in Predicting Unethical Pro-organisational Behaviour," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 281-300, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:147:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2947-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.