Unethical When Insecure: The Effect of Negotiators' Self-efficacy Beliefs on Ethical Behavior

Abstract

In this study, we use interactive negotiation activities to explore the link between state self-efficacy and deception, a particular kind of unethical – or at least ethically questionable – behavior. More specifically, we investigate whether and how negotiators’ self-efficacy perceptions may make them more or less likely to use deception in negotiation. We argue that individuals with particularly low levels of self-efficacy beliefs in a specific situation are expected to experience high levels of anxiety arousal and tend to interpret this situation as threatening. This, in turn, lead them to adopt a self-defensive attitude that ultimately affects their (un)ethical behavior. We test our hypothesis in two experimental studies, totalizing 260 participants. In Study 1 we manipulate participants' negotiation self-efficacy beliefs with bogus feedback and measure their actual use of ethically questionable tactics in a subsequent interactive negotiation activity. We find that low levels of self-efficacy lead individuals to use more ethically questionable tactics during a negotiation. In study 2, besides the manipulation of self-efficacy, we also manipulate participants' moral disengagement with priming messages to test for its meditating effects. Results suggest that moral disengagement mediates the effects of self-efficacy on (un)ethical behavior. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.