Prompting and Punishing Transgressions: Interpersonal Causes and Consequences of Unethical Behavior

Abstract

Unethical behavior has disastrous consequences for organizations and society. Inspired by the conference theme “Creating a Better World Together”, this symposium brings together novel empirical insights on how people prompt and punish others’ unethical behavior. How does one person’s actions and emotions affect another’s unethical behavior? How do people react to others’ unethical behavior with constructive or counterproductive responses? The first two presentations examine how individuals intentionally or unintentionally prompt others to act unethically by giving advice (Helgason & Effron) and displaying anxiety (Yip & Lee). The next three presentations examine how people respond, often unfairly and counterproductively, to others’ unethical behavior with punishment (Kundro, Nurmohamed, Kakkar, & Affinito), ostracism (Smith-Crowe & Burns), and feedback (Frey & Green). By focusing on behaviors available to individuals regardless of their formal role, such as advice, feedback, and ostracism, this symposium provides implications for how ethically-conscious employees can not only behave ethically themselves, but also inspire ethical behavior from others in their organization. Vice Advice: Taking Advice to Justify Unethical Behavior Presenter: Beth Anne Helgason; London Business School Presenter: Daniel A. Effron; London Business School Fretting Invites Fraud: Expressing Anxiety Elicits Deceptive Behaviors by Perceivers Presenter: Jeremy Yip; McDonough School of Business Georgetown U. Presenter: Kelly Lee; - Crime, Time, and Punishment: Time Lags Exacerbate the Severity of Third-Party Punishment Presenter: Timothy Kundro; U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Presenter: Samir Nurmohamed; The Wharton School, U. of Pennsylvania Presenter: Hemant Kakkar; Fuqua School of Business, Duke U. Presenter: Salvatore J. Affinito; Harvard Business School Out with the Racists: Understanding Ostracism in Response to Racist Acts Presenter: Kristin Smith-Crowe; Boston U. Presenter: Nicholas Burns; Boston U. Questrom School of Business Mistake or Misconduct: Type of Violation Influences Feedback Motivations and Content Presenter: Erin Frey; U. of Southern California -Marshall School of Business Presenter: Paul Isaac Green; U. of Texas at Austin