Egoistic norms, organizational identification, and the perceived ethicality of unethical pro-organizational behavior: A moral maturation perspective

Abstract

Do some employees engage in unethical behavior because they actually believe it is the right thing to do? We explore this question in this article. Unlike other forms of unethical behavior, unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) is aimed at benefiting the perpetrator’s organization. We propose that employees are increasingly likely to engage in UPB when they believe these acts are ethically appropriate, and that these ethicality beliefs are strongest among employees who work in departments with egoistic norms. Such norms lack guidance on the importance of protecting outside stakeholders’ interest, and provide limited moral knowledge about the broader implications of UPB. We further propose that organizational identification strengthens these effects. Across three field studies, we find support for the hypothesized effects. Ethical judgments of UPB were positively related to both self (Studies 1 and 3) and supervisor (Study 2) ratings of employee UPB. In turn, acts of UPB were judged more ethically appropriate in departments with egoistic norms, and these positive ethical judgments mediated the relationships between egoistic norms and employee UPB (Study 2). Finally, the indirect effects of egoistic norms were strongest among employees with high levels of organizational identification (Study 3). Implications for theory and research are discussed.