Effectiveness of Social Influences in Ethical Decision Making AbstractIn this research, we examine when and why organizational environments influence how employees respond to moral issues. Past research proposed that social influences in organizations affect employees' ethical decision making, but did not explain when and why some individuals are affected by the organizational environment and some disregard it. To address this problem, we drew on research on power to propose that power makes people more self-focused, which, in turn, makes them more likely to act upon their preferences and ignore (un)ethical social influences. Using both experimental and field methods, we tested our model across the three main paradigms of social influence: informational influence (Study 1 and 2), normative influence (Study 3), and compliance (Study 4). Results offer converging evidence for our theory.
Word Count Abstract: 123Keywords: ethical decision making, power, social influences, self-focus
POWER AND (UN)ETHICAL INFLUENCES 3Members of organizations are often faced with moral issues, defined as situations in which "a person's actions, when freely performed, may harm or benefit others" (Jones, 1991: 367). An employee might be tempted to exaggerate, rather than accurately report, time spent on a project to receive a larger bonus; another employee may have to decide whether to deceive the other party in a negotiation to secure a more favorable outcome. While deciding on moral issues, employees are exposed to social influences that can impact their ethical decision making. These social influences range from explicit organizational ethical standards to others' (un)ethical behavior as an indirect indicator of acceptable conduct in their organization (for a review, see Kish-Gephart, Harrison, & Treviño, 2010). Both ethical decision-making theory (Sonenshein, 2007;Treviño, 1986) and related studies (Gino, Ayal, & Ariely, 2009;Pierce & Snyder, 2008;Treviño, Butterfield, & McCabe, 1998) suggest that employees' ethical decision making will be consistent with the social influence they are exposed to. Those working in an organization with an ethical code of conduct are expected to make more ethical decisions (Treviño et al., 1998) whereas those working in organizations in which unethical behavior is widespread are more likely to make unethical decisions themselves (Pierce & Snyder, 2008).Although social influence has a powerful impact on individual decision making Turner, 1991), not all employees are swayed by their context when responding to moral issues. For example, news reports tell stories about cheating employees within organizations whose members typically do not cheat (Weisman, 2007). Similarly, there are employees who make ethical decisions while their coworkers follow their self-interest (Russell, 2011). This suggests that some employees ignore their social context and, for better or worse, follow their own preferences for ethical or unethical conduct. This phenomenon remains unexplained by past theories on ethical decision m...