Workers' Moral Mum Effect: On Facework and Unethical Behavior in the Workplace

Abstract

Through this language production experiment, we demonstrate workers' tendency to avoid describing behavior in ethical terms—what we label the moral mum effect. Working adults (N = 195) responded to an unethical request from a supervisor, coworker, or subordinate. Content and contingency table analyses revealed that most workers did not label the unethical request as unethical and hierarchical relationship did not mitigate this organizational communication dynamic. Additionally, we explore how another feature of language-use in work settings—operational justifications—may take the place of moral objections, especially in the case of subordinates interacting with their supervisors. We conclude with suggestions for overcoming the moral mum effect through communication skills training.