Abstract
Decreasing the prevalence of unethical behavior is crucial for the well-being of organizations. By integrating research on emotions, morality and self regulation, we examine the effects of anger and guilt on cheating behavior. Using self regulation theories, we predict that angry individuals will cheat more than guilty individuals. We test our hypotheses in two laboratory studies and one online study. Our results demonstrate that angry participants exhibit lower self regulation than guilty participants (Study 1), and that angry participants indeed cheat more than guilty participants (Study 2). Self regulatory resources mediate the effect of anger and guilt on cheating behavior (Study 3). Overall, these findings suggest that reducing anger among employees is one potential avenue for decreasing unethical behavior in the workplace.
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