Faculty Publications

Warding Off Cognitive Dissonance: How Supervisor Perspective Taking Shapes the Responses of Employees Who Engage in Unethical Behavior

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Cognitive dissonance, Perspective taking, Social information processing, Unethical behavior

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Business Ethics

First Page

1

Last Page

14

Abstract

Prior research in behavioral ethics suggests that supervisors may influence employees’ ethical decision-making. However, the extent to which supervisors shape the recurrence of employees’ unethical behaviors remains underexplored. By integrating cognitive dissonance theory with social information processing theory, we provide new insights into how supervisors influence employees’ responses to their past ethical violations. We hypothesize that when supervisors exhibit a high level of perspective taking, employees are less likely to perceive organizational intolerance of unethical behaviors and, in turn, are more likely to repeat these behaviors in the future. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a field investigation using objective data from organizational records and survey responses collected from 276 sales professionals and 108 supervisors in a large firm over a nine-month period. Our results support our predictions. We discuss theoretical and practical implications, limitations, as well as future directions.

Department

Department of Management

Original Publication Date

9-19-2024

DOI of published version

10.1007/s10551-024-05802-z

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