IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-00814614.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Compliant sinners, obstinate saints: How power and self-focus determine the effectiveness of social influences in ethical decision making

Author

Listed:
  • Marko Pitesa

    (EESC-GEM Grenoble Ecole de Management)

  • Stefan Thau

    (LBS - London Business School - London Business School)

Abstract

In this research, we examine when and why organizational environments influence how employees respond to moral issues. Past research proposed that social influences in organizations affect employees' ethical decision making, but did not explain when and why some individuals are affected by the organizational environment and some disregard it. To address this problem, we drew on research on power to propose that power makes people more self-focused, which, in turn, makes them more likely to act upon their preferences and ignore (un)ethical social influences. Using both experimental and field methods, we tested our model across the three main paradigms of social influence: informational influence (Study 1 and 2), normative influence (Study 3), and compliance (Study 4). Results offer converging evidence for our theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Marko Pitesa & Stefan Thau, 2013. "Compliant sinners, obstinate saints: How power and self-focus determine the effectiveness of social influences in ethical decision making," Post-Print hal-00814614, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00814614
    DOI: 10.5465/amj.2011.0891
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: http://hal.grenoble-em.com/hal-00814614v2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hal.grenoble-em.com/hal-00814614v2/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5465/amj.2011.0891?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Strudler, Alan, 1995. "On the Ethics of Deception in Negotiation," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(4), pages 805-822, October.
    2. Brent McFerran & Darren W. Dahl & Gavan J. Fitzsimons & Andrea C. Morales, 2010. "I'll Have What She's Having: Effects of Social Influence and Body Type on the Food Choices of Others," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 36(6), pages 915-929, April.
    3. Treviño, Linda Klebe & Weaver, Gary R., 2001. "Organizational Justice and Ethics Program “Follow-Through”: Influences on Employees’ Harmful and Helpful Behavior," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(4), pages 651-671, October.
    4. Treviño, Linda Klebe & Butterfield, Kenneth D. & McCabe, Donald L., 1998. "The Ethical Context in Organizations: Influences on Employee Attitudes and Behaviors," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 447-476, July.
    5. Lamar Pierce & Jason Snyder, 2008. "Ethical Spillovers in Firms: Evidence from Vehicle Emissions Testing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(11), pages 1891-1903, November.
    6. McCabe, Donald L. & Trevino, Linda Klebe & Butterfield, Kenneth D., 1996. "The Influence of Collegiate and Corporate Codes of Conduct on Ethics-Related Behavior in the Workplace," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(4), pages 461-476, October.
    7. See, Kelly E. & Morrison, Elizabeth W. & Rothman, Naomi B. & Soll, Jack B., 2011. "The detrimental effects of power on confidence, advice taking, and accuracy," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 116(2), pages 272-285.
    8. Overbeck, Jennifer R. & Park, Bernadette, 2006. "Powerful perceivers, powerless objects: Flexibility of powerholders' social attention," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 227-243, March.
    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. Bill McEvily & Akbar Zaheer & Darcy K. Fudge Kamal, 2017. "Mutual and Exclusive: Dyadic Sources of Trust in Interorganizational Exchange," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 74-92, February.
    2. Han-Sheng Lei & Chuan-Fu Lai & Chih-Chang Chen, 2018. "How Does Project Supervisor Maintain Sustainability of Project Members? A Study from Leadership Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-14, August.
    3. Christian Julmi, 2024. "Analysis and Intuition Effectiveness in Moral Problems," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(1), pages 179-193, April.
    4. Otto, Philipp E. & Bolle, Friedel, 2016. "The advantage of hierarchy: Inducing responsibility and selecting ability?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 49-57.
    5. To, Christopher & Leslie, Lisa M. & Torelli, Carlos J. & Stoner, Jennifer L., 2020. "Culture and social hierarchy: Collectivism as a driver of the relationship between power and status," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 159-176.
    6. Minson, Julia A. & VanEpps, Eric M. & Yip, Jeremy A. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2018. "Eliciting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: The effect of question phrasing on deception," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 76-93.
    7. Franziska Zuber & Muel Kaptein, 2014. "Painting with the Same Brush? Surveying Unethical Behavior in the Workplace Using Self-Reports and Observer-Reports," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 401-432, December.
    8. Bhukya, Ramulu & Paul, Justin, 2023. "Social influence research in consumer behavior: What we learned and what we need to learn? – A hybrid systematic literature review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    9. Pettit, Nathan C. & Doyle, Sarah P. & Lount, Robert B. & To, Christopher, 2016. "Cheating to get ahead or to avoid falling behind? The effect of potential negative versus positive status change on unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 172-183.
    10. Marko Pitesa & Stefan Thau & Madan M. Pillutla, 2013. "Cognitive control and socially desirable behavior: The role of interpersonal impact," Working Papers hal-00853900, HAL.
    11. Paulina Roszkowska & Domènec Melé, 2021. "Organizational Factors in the Individual Ethical Behaviour. The Notion of the “Organizational Moral Structure”," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 187-209, July.
    12. Marko Pitesa & Stefan Thau & Madan M. Pillutla, 2013. "Cognitive control and socially desirable behavior: The role of interpersonal impact," Working paper serie RMT - Grenoble Ecole de Management hal-00853900, HAL.
    13. Li Yan & Hean Tat Keh & Xiaoyu Wang, 2021. "Powering Sustainable Consumption: The Roles of Green Consumption Values and Power Distance Belief," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 499-516, March.
    14. Zhen Wang & Lu Xing & Haoying Xu & Sean T. Hannah, 2021. "Not All Followers Socially Learn from Ethical Leaders: The Roles of Followers’ Moral Identity and Leader Identification in the Ethical Leadership Process," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(3), pages 449-469, May.
    15. Paramita, Widya & Septianto, Felix & Winahjoe, Sari & Purwanto, B.M. & Candra, Ika Diyah, 2020. "Sharing is (not) caring? The interactive effects of power and psychological distance on tolerance of unethical behavior," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 42-49.
    16. Yip, Jeremy A. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2016. "Mad and misleading: Incidental anger promotes deception," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 207-217.
    17. Pitesa, Marko & Thau, Stefan & Pillutla, Madan M., 2013. "Cognitive control and socially desirable behavior: The role of interpersonal impact," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 232-243.
    18. Katja Woelfl & Lutz Kaufmann & Craig R. Carter, 2023. "In the eye of the beholder: A configurational exploration of perceived deceptive supplier behavior in negotiations," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 59(2), pages 33-61, April.
    19. Gokce Basbug & Ayn Cavicchi & Susan S. Silbey, 2023. "Rank Has Its Privileges: Explaining Why Laboratory Safety Is a Persistent Challenge," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 571-587, May.
    20. Julian Friedland & Kyle Emich & Benjamin M Cole, 2020. "Uncovering the moral heuristics of altruism: A philosophical scale," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-26, March.
    21. Leavitt, Keith & Zhu, Luke (Lei) & Klotz, Anthony & Kouchaki, Maryam, 2022. "Fragile or robust? Differential effects of gender threats in the workplace among men and women," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    22. Yu, Andrew & Hays, Nicholas A. & Zhao, Emma Y., 2019. "Development of a bipartite measure of social hierarchy: The perceived power and perceived status scales," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 84-104.
    23. Engel, Yuval & Ramesh, Anusha & Steiner, Nick, 2020. "Powered by compassion: The effect of loving-kindness meditation on entrepreneurs' sustainable decision-making," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(6).
    24. Schaerer, Michael & du Plessis, Christilene & Yap, Andy J. & Thau, Stefan, 2018. "Low power individuals in social power research: A quantitative review, theoretical framework, and empirical test," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 73-96.

    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. Marko Pitesa & Stefan Thau, 2013. "Compliant sinners, obstinate saints: How power and self-focus determine the effectiveness of social influences in ethical decision making," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-00814614, HAL.
    2. Sebastian Goebel & Barbara E. Weißenberger, 2017. "The Relationship Between Informal Controls, Ethical Work Climates, and Organizational Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 505-528, March.
    3. Anke Arnaud & Marshall Schminke, 2012. "The Ethical Climate and Context of Organizations: A Comprehensive Model," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(6), pages 1767-1780, December.
    4. Christof Miska & Günter K. Stahl & Matthias Fuchs, 2018. "The Moderating Role of Context in Determining Unethical Managerial Behavior: A Case Survey," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 793-812, December.
    5. Nida Kamal & Hina Samdani & Amna Yameen, 2018. "Engaging Employees through Ethical Leadership," Global Social Sciences Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(3), pages 300-316, September.
    6. den Nieuwenboer, N.A. & Kaptein, S.P., 2007. "Spiraling Down into Corruption: A Dynamic Analysis of the Social Identity Processes that Cause Corruption in Organizations to Grow," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2007-086-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    7. Gino, Francesca & Pierce, Lamar, 2009. "The abundance effect: Unethical behavior in the presence of wealth," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 142-155, July.
    8. Kaptein, S.P. & Schwartz, M.S., 2007. "The Effectiveness of Business Codes: A Critical Examination of Existing Studies and the Development of an Integrated Research Model," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2007-030-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    9. Matt Statler & David Oliver, 2016. "The Moral of the Story: Re-framing Ethical Codes of Conduct as Narrative Processes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 89-100, June.
    10. Sebastian Cortes-Mejia & Andres Felipe Cortes & Pol Herrmann, 2022. "Sharing Strategic Decisions: CEO Humility, TMT Decentralization, and Ethical Culture," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 241-260, June.
    11. Yam, Kai Chi & Reynolds, Scott J. & Hirsh, Jacob B., 2014. "The hungry thief: Physiological deprivation and its effects on unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 123-133.
    12. John Pearce, 2013. "Using Social Identity Theory to Predict Managers’ Emphases on Ethical and Legal Values in Judging Business Issues," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(3), pages 497-514, February.
    13. Michael S. McLeod & G. Tyge Payne & Robert E. Evert, 2016. "Organizational Ethics Research: A Systematic Review of Methods and Analytical Techniques," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 429-443, March.
    14. Kaptein, S.P., 2007. "Developing and Testing a Measure for the Ethical Culture of Organizations: The Corporate Ethical Virtues Model," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2007-084-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    15. Muel Kaptein, 2011. "Toward Effective Codes: Testing the Relationship with Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(2), pages 233-251, March.
    16. Terri Rittenburg & Sean Valentine & James Faircloth, 2007. "An Ethical Decision-Making Framework for Competitor Intelligence Gathering," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 70(3), pages 235-245, February.
    17. Valentine Sean & Godkin Lynn, 2016. "Ethics policies, perceived social responsibility, and positive work attitude," The Irish Journal of Management, Sciendo, vol. 35(2), pages 114-128.
    18. Aviva Geva, 2006. "A Typology of Moral Problems in Business: A Framework for Ethical Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(2), pages 133-147, December.
    19. Muel Kaptein & Mark Schwartz, 2008. "The Effectiveness of Business Codes: A Critical Examination of Existing Studies and the Development of an Integrated Research Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 77(2), pages 111-127, January.
    20. Wiltermuth, Scott S., 2011. "Cheating more when the spoils are split," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 157-168, July.

    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:hal:journl:hal-00814614. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.