Prosocial Citizens Without a Moral Compass? Examining the Relationship Between Machiavellianism and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior

Castille, Christopher M.; Buckner, John; Thoroughgood, Christian

doi:10.1007/s10551-016-3079-9

Cited by 151 publications

(131 citation statements)

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“…However, our research demonstrates that personality characteristics, in this case PE, can explain significant variance in employee Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior and Psychological Entitlement 29 willingness to engage in UPB. Thus, we build on recent work (e.g., Castille et al 2016), by exploring how individual characteristics can influence this important outcome. Furthermore, we show the underlying motivations for highly entitled employees' willingness to engage in UPB as opposed to CWB.…”

Section: Theoretical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such variables have been shown by previous research to predict UPB (e.g., Matherne and Litchfield 2012). However, we did not control for the individual disposition of Machiavellianism, which recent research demonstrated to be a significant predictor of UPB (Castille et al 2016). We did not control for this variable, as this study was not published by the time we had designed our research.…”

Section: Limitations and Suggestions For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whereas communal motives compel people to connect with others, agentic motives drive individuals to exert interpersonal influence and to try to secure power and dominance within a hierarchy (Barrick et al 2002). PE has theoretical links with status striving, as entitlement leads individuals to seek to maintain an enhanced status vis-à-vis others (e.g., Campbell et al 2004) as discussed in Study 1.Prior work indicates a link between a desire for status and UPB (Castille et al 2016). …”

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confidence: 95%

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Investigating When and Why Psychological Entitlement Predicts Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior

et al. 2017

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In this research, we examine the relationship between employee psychological entitlement (PE) and employee willingness to engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). We hypothesize that a high level of PE-the belief that one should receive desirable treatment irrespective of whether it is deserved-will increase the prevalence of this particular type of unethical behavior. We argue that, driven by self-interest and the desire to look good in the eyes of others, highly entitled employees may be more willing to engage in UPB when their personal goals are aligned with those of their organizations. Support for this proposition was found in Study 1, which demonstrates that organizational identification accentuates the link between PE and the willingness to engage in UPB. Study 2 builds on these findings by examining a number of mediating variables that shed light on why PE leads to a greater willingness among employees to engage in UPB. Furthermore, we explored the differential effects of PE on UPB compared to counterproductive work behavior (CWB). We found support for our moderated mediation model, which shows that status striving and moral disengagement fully mediate the link between PE and UPB. PE was also linked to CWB, and was fully mediated by perceptions of organizational justice and moral disengagement. Growing research has demonstrated that employees commonly engage in unethical behaviors that are intended to serve the interests of their organization (e.g., destroying incriminating files to protect an organization's reputation; disclosing exaggerated information to the public; Umphress and Bingham 2011). This type of behavior has been referred to as unethical proorganizational behavior (UPB) (Umphress et al. 2010), and it is carried out consciously, in a discretionary manner (i.e., it is neither ordered by a supervisor nor part of a formal job description), and in violation of moral hypernorms (Warren 2003). The intention to benefit an organization distinguishes UPB from many other forms of unethical work behavior, such as counterproductive or deviant behavior, which are performed with the intention of harming one's organization and/or its members (e.g., Spector and Fox 2005).UPB is an important phenomenon for companies to consider because, in the long term, it may hurt their reputations and expose them to lawsuits (Umphress and Bingham 2011). Due to the seemingly increasing number of high-profile events occuring in the public domain whereby ethical standards have been violated in the interest of organizational benefit, scholars have emphasized the need for a more comprehensive understanding of the antecedents of UPB (Pierce and Aguinis 2015). Research has begun to systematically investigate and theorize about UPB with a particular focus on employee motivations to engage in such behaviors (e.g., Chen et al. 2016;Graham et al. 2015;Kong 2016). However, the research to date has largely focused on the examination of situational and attitudinal antecedents of UPB such as leadership (e.g., Effel...

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Section: Theoretical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Limitations and Suggestions For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 95%

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Investigating When and Why Psychological Entitlement Predicts Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior

et al. 2017

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“…Much of UPB literature examines its attitudinal antecedents (Umphress et al, 2010, Chen, Chen, & Sheldon, 2016, Matherne and Litchfield, 2012 but relatively little examines individual difference level factors (Kong, 2016, Castille, Buckner, & Thoroughgood, 2016. In addition to the studies performed by Umphress et al (2010) and Chen et al (2016), Matherne and Litchfield (2012) examined moral identity and affective commitment as possible predictors of UPB, finding that both significantly predicted intention to commit UPB, with affective commitment being positively associated with UPB (β = .197, p < .05) and moral identity negatively associated with UPB (β = -.306, p < .001).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Kong found support for a negative relationship between trait mindfulness and UPB (β = -.26, p < .01), as well as support for a positive relationship between obsessive passion and OID (β = .23, p < .01), though there was no significant relationship between harmonious passion and OID. Castille et al (2016) also examined individual difference level factors in their study, specifically examining the relationship between trait Machiavellianism and willingness to engage in UPB, building on Kish-Gephart, Harrison, and Trevino (2010) which found Machiavellianism was a significant predictor of unethical behavior at work. Trait Machiavellianism is a tendency to ignore positive reciprocity norms, be interpersonally cold, and lack empathy (Castille et al, 2016).…”

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confidence: 99%

Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior And Organizational Identification: Exploring The Moderating Effects Of Conscientiousness And Neuroticism

Niederhauser¹

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Little research in the field of industrial and organizational psychology has focused on unethical behavior intended to help the organizations and its members or the factors that may predict the prevalence of these behaviors. The purpose of this study was to further this research and examine possible moderating effects of conscientiousness and neuroticism on the relationship between organizational identification (OID) and unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). While no support was found to suggest higher levels of neuroticism or conscientiousness moderate the relationship between UPB and OID. This study contributed to the literature through investigating the role of individual-level differences on the OID to UPB relationship, as well as providing future directions for research through exploratory analyses.

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Good intentions, bad behavior: A review and synthesis of the literature on unethical prosocial behavior (UPB) at work

Lupoli

Newman

et al. 2022

J Organ Behavior

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Summary Scholars have investigated work behaviors that are intended to help others, yet at the same time violate societal values, norms, laws, or standards of proper conduct. We refer to these actions collectively as unethical prosocial behavior (UPB) at work. In this paper, we provide a critical review of the UPB literature. Our review makes several contributions: First, we clarify definitional issues surrounding UPB, while also offering suggestions for the improvement of measurement and methodology in the study of UPB. Second, we review the major theoretical perspectives that have been adopted in empirical research on UPB at different levels of analysis and summarize the empirical findings on the topic. In doing so, we highlight the theoretical and empirical challenges facing this work. Finally, we develop an agenda for future research that clears a path toward resolving these issues and advancing knowledge of UPB.

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Prosocial Citizens Without a Moral Compass? Examining the Relationship Between Machiavellianism and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior

Cited by 151 publications

References 59 publications

Investigating When and Why Psychological Entitlement Predicts Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior

Investigating When and Why Psychological Entitlement Predicts Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior

Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior And Organizational Identification: Exploring The Moderating Effects Of Conscientiousness And Neuroticism

Good intentions, bad behavior: A review and synthesis of the literature on unethical prosocial behavior (UPB) at work

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