The Influence of Organization Identification on Different Types of Unethical Behavioral Contagion

Abstract

Unethical behavior is harmful for organizations’ existence and success. Studying factors that determine whether or not employees copy each other’s misdeeds importantly contributes to insights in how the spreading of unethical behavior through an organization can be stopped. We argue that the presence of an unethical exemplar increases the instigation to engage in similar conduct, but that this effect is moderated by organization identification and the type of unethical behavior at stake. Unethical behavior can either be harmful to an organization (e.g. taking home office supplies) or seem beneficial to an organization (e.g. offering bribes). We hypothesized that individuals who have a low organizational identification copy an unethical exemplar more when the behavior harms the organization and that individuals who highly identify with the organization copy an unethical exemplar more when the unethical behavior seemingly benefits the organization. Two field studies and one lab study confirm our expectations. We conclude that unethical behavior spreads among people and that either high or low organization identification strengthens this effect, depending on the type of unethical behavior.