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Moral Emotions: A Review and Research Agenda for Management Scholarship
Abstract
Utilizing Haidt's (2003) “families” of moral emotions, we synthesize and review the moral emotions literature in an effort to advance organizational scholarship. First, we broadly discuss “what constitutes a moral emotion?” Second, we critically examine each family of moral emotions. We discuss key controversies and debates, particularly in terms of construct overlap, and provide recommendations. Third, we review scholarly work on each family of moral emotions in the workplace and offer ideas for future research. Finally, in our general future directions, we discuss a range of theoretical perspectives that can be used to advance the moral emotions literature in the management field.
... In terms of environmental outcomes, we consider all the relevant parties and test harasser aggression (as a self-defensive moral reaction), target gratitude (as a moral reaction to benefiting from good deeds), and third-party elevation (as a moral reaction to bystanders' commendable actions). For personal outcomes, the moral lens (Greenbaum et al., 2020) further guides us to focus on two self-evaluative moral emotions experienced by bystanders: guilt (negative emotion) and pride (positive emotion). ...
... responses. These responses include gratitude from beneficiaries of good deeds and elevation experienced by onlookers who do not directly benefit but observe others behaving in a virtuous way (Greenbaum et al., 2020;Tangney et al., 2007). Additionally, Folger and Skarlicki (2005) asserted that perpetrators who cannot avoid "accusatory, condemning confrontations" (p. ...
... 100) are prone to react with aggression to preserve and defend their self-image. Furthermore, moral emotions arise when individuals reflect on their own behavior, feeling guilt over moral inaction or failure, or pride for prosocial behaviors that bolster social values (Greenbaum et al., 2020;Tangney et al., 2007). ...
Sexual harassment bystander intervention (SHBI) has been deemed critical to addressing persistent incidents in the workplace, yet scholarly knowledge of this behavior remains sporadic and limited. To move this field of research forward, the present study departs from the traditional variable-centered approach and instead adopts a latent profile approach to answer three key questions: (1) Which combinations (profiles) of actions do bystanders take to intervene? (2) When do bystanders intervene with specific profiles of SHBI? and (3) What happens when bystanders intervene with different behavioral combinations? We first developed and validated a scale to measure five distinct SHBI behaviors (i.e., confronting, distracting, supporting, reporting, and discussing) with two scenario-based pilot studies. Then, using this scale and latent profile analysis, we identified three distinctive profiles (i.e., active intervention, low-risk intervention, and no/limited intervention) in a field survey study (N1 = 381). In two additional field survey studies (N2 = 312; N3 = 326), by integrating social cognitive theory with the moral lens, we not only replicated the three similar profiles but also examined antecedents (i.e., organizational norms about sexual harassment and gender, and bystanders’ anger, empathy, and harassment-curbing expectancy) and outcomes of the profile memberships (i.e., aggression from the harasser, target gratitude, third-party elevation, and bystander guilt and pride). Overall, this research provides new insights into the nature of SHBI, its distinct patterns in the workplace, and potential organizational practices related to SHBI profiles.
... Unfortunately, cybersecurity training and practices are dominated by fear and shame appeals designed to ensure compliance (Renaud and Dupuis, 2019)[Redacted]. This might prime the individual to hide because they fear that others will see the consequences of their assumedly deficient moral character (Greenbaum et al., 2020). ...
... The supervisor's compassion and empathy are related to goodwill and concern for others (Michie and Gooty, 2005;Greenbaum et al., 2020). As in the vulnerability-amplifying pathway, the experience and display of these emotions will be influenced by the quality of the prior relationship with the enabling individual. ...
... Escalating knowledge of the origin event produces anchoring events, (Fig. 4: CW-Traumas). These breaches of trust (Kim et al., 2004) include negative emotions of anxiety or anger at unjust treatment (Greenbaum et al., 2020), triggering widespread sense-making with the supervisor's response denoting the social effects of emotions (van Kleef, 2022). These processes are multi-level, affecting Co-Worker relational dynamics, both with the supervisor and each other, leading to further anchoring events in these relationships. ...
Purpose
Adverse cyber events, like death and taxes, have become inevitable. They are an increasingly common feature of organisational life. Their aftermaths are a critical and under-examined context and dynamic space within which to examine trust. In this paper, we address this deficit.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on pertinent theory and reports of empirical studies, we outline the basis of two alternative subsequent trajectories, drawing out the relationships between trust, vulnerability and emotion, both positive and negative, in the aftermath of an adverse cyber event.
Findings
We combine stage theory and social information processing theories to delineate the dynamics of trust processes and their multilevel trajectories during adverse cyber event aftermaths. We consider two response trajectories to chart the way vulnerability arises at different levels within these social systems to create self-reinforcing trust and distrust spirals. These ripple out to impact multiple levels of the organisation by either amplifying or relieving vulnerability.
Research limitations/implications
The way adverse cyber events aftermaths are managed has immediate and long-term consequences for organisational stakeholders. Actions impact resilience and the ability to preserve the social fabric of the organisations. Subsequent trajectories can be “negative” or “positive”. The “negative” trajectory is characterised by efforts to identify and punish the employee whose actions facilitated the adverse events, i.e. the “who”. Public scapegoating might follow thereby amplifying perceived vulnerability and reducing trust across the board. By contrast, the “positive” trajectory relieves perceived vulnerability by focusing on, and correcting, situational causatives. Here, the focus is on the “what” and “why” of the event.
Practical implications
We raise the importance of responding in a constructive way to adverse cyber events.
Originality/value
The aftermaths of cyber attacks in organisations are a critical, neglected context. We explore the interplay between trust and vulnerability and its implications for management “best practice”.
... Yet, in their study, Huyghebaert-Zouaghi et al. (2022a) only investigated managerial antecedents of psychological need states profiles, thus limiting our understanding of other possible causes of these profiles. Importantly, climate change has become a key topic in the workplace, and organizations' (ir)responsibility related to environmental issues comes with important implications for employees' cognitions (e.g., perceptions of environmental corporate social responsibility [CSR]; El Akremi, Gond, Swaen, De Roeck, & Igalens, 2018) and emotions (e.g., moral emotions regarding one's organization's environmental responsibility; Greenbaum, Bonner, Gray, & Mawritz, 2020). Yet, little is known about the psychological implications (e.g., psychological needs) of these cognitions and emotions related to one's organization's environmental (ir)responsibility. ...
... Employees can thus feel that they contribute to violating moral standards when working for and being a part of an organization that does not live up to eco-friendly standards. They may then experience shame and/or guilt (Greenbaum et al., 2020). ...
... Although there has been a rise in research on moral emotions in organizations, this research field is understudied in terms of explaining their consequences for employees' work-related experiences (Greenbaum et al., 2020). More precisely, no study has explored the relations between employees' work-related moral emotions and their need satisfaction, frustration, and unfulfillment. ...
Based on self-determination theory, this research relied on person-centered analyses to show how the distinct components of psychological need states combine to produce distinct profiles. We also explored contemporarily antecedents (perceptions of the organization’s environmental corporate social responsibility and negative moral emotions related to the organization’s environmental (ir)responsibility) and organizational outcomes (affective organizational commitment, turnover intentions, and cyberslacking). Questionnaire surveys were completed by 525 French employees. Four profiles characterized by configurations of psychological need states were identified and showed well-differentiated patterns. Negative moral emotions predicted membership in the most detrimental need states profiles while corporate social responsibility perceptions did not. As expected, we found opposite patterns of associations between profile membership and affective organizational commitment and turnover intentions, while the highest levels of cyberslacking were found in the most positive need states profiles. The results add to person-centered research and emphasize the importance of psychological experiences in the workplace and organizational outcomes.
... To address this gap, we turn to the appraisal theory of emotions (Scherer et al., 2001) and theories of moral emotions (Greenbaum et al., 2020;Haidt, 2003a;Tangney et al., 2007). The premise of appraisal theory of emotions is that emotions result from a person's appraisal of a situation (Ellsworth & Dougherty, 2016). ...
... Appraisal theory suggests that the evaluation of moral aspects of situations can give rise to moral emotions. In particular, other-praising moral emotions, such as gratitude, pride, and moral elevation, are triggered by moral exemplars (Greenbaum et al., 2020;Haidt, 2003a;Tangney et al., 2007). Therefore, ethical leadership, with a focus on adherence to moral norms (Lemoine et al., 2019), is more likely appraised as morally praiseworthy, thus triggering moral emotions. ...
... Moral emotions, in turn, prompt distinct action tendencies that have performance implications (Greenbaum et al., 2020). Because other-praising moral emotions prompt a desire to become a better person and follow the moral exemplar's example (Haidt, 2003a), such a motivational state is likely to be manifested in feedback seeking, as the followers seek guidance and approval from the ethical leader. ...
Building on appraisal theory of emotions and theories on moral emotions, we contend that ethical leadership triggers other-praising moral emotions directed at the supervisor and leads to feedback-seeking behavior. We further predict that the affective processes of ethical leadership have implications for workplace behaviors, namely organizational citizenship behavior directed at the supervisor and employee voice. We develop a new measure of supervisor-directed, other-praising moral emotions and test the validity of the measure. Then, we test and find support for the proposed hypotheses using a sample of 231 full-time employees in China with a time-lagged survey design and structural equation modeling. Theoretical and practical implications for ethical leadership and moral emotions are discussed.
... Based on these two dimensions, we discuss four distinct categories of emotions, namely, self-enhancing, self-harming, other-enhancing, and other-harming emotions. Building on the notion of the family of moral emotions (Greenbaum et al., 2020;Haidt, 2003), we define self-enhancing emotions as those linked to one's own cause that augment an individual's self-interest either intrinsically or extrinsically, such as a gain in wealth, power, and safety. We discuss elevation and pride in this category. ...
... Furthermore, it has been argued that feeling elevated in the workplace leads to a stronger commitment to the organization (Vianello et al., 2010), which, in turn, could lead to pro-organizational unethical behavior. From the destructive conformity perspective, Greenbaum et al. (2020) observe that employees working under unethical leaders might mimic them by pursuing profit, prestige, or power using unethical means. Leaders like Adolf Hitler motivated their followers to undertake unethical actions by evoking a sense of elevation (Greenbaum et al., 2020). ...
... From the destructive conformity perspective, Greenbaum et al. (2020) observe that employees working under unethical leaders might mimic them by pursuing profit, prestige, or power using unethical means. Leaders like Adolf Hitler motivated their followers to undertake unethical actions by evoking a sense of elevation (Greenbaum et al., 2020). Likewise, individuals with Machiavellian traits manipulate others for personal gain and to attain power (Harrison et al., 2016), which elicits an elevated feeling. ...
Unethical employee behavior (UEB), an important organizational phenomenon, is dynamic and multi-faceted. Recent renewed interest in the role of emotion in ethical decision-making (EDM) suggests that unethical behaviors are neither always rationally derived nor deliberately undertaken. This study explores how to integrate the conscious and nonconscious dimensions of unethical decision-making. By broadening the scope of inquiry, we explore how integral affect—the emotion tied to anticipated decision outcomes for the employee engaging in misconduct—can shed light on UEB. We review related literature on affect and EDM and propose a model in which we assert that at a decision point, an employee experiences multiple integral affects that are either persuasive or dissuasive toward UEB. We further posit that among these integral affects, a dominant integral affect (DIA) emerges, determining the nature and direction of unethical behavior. In addition, our model considers the role of affective residue and the influence of other factors, such as incidental affect, disposition, context, and retrospection, to derive propositions. Our DIA model can help managers gain a comprehensive understanding of how affect, characterized by its locus (self or other orientation) and valence (enhancing or harming), determines the characteristics of UEB.
... Moral emotions can have both positive and negative tones (for instance, anger, shame, guilt), and unfair story events related to a difficult social issue make recipients experience heightened activity in areas of the brain associated with negative emotional states. Such responses can lead to prosocial behaviours as corrective actions, both to stop morally inappropriate behaviour and to support the victim (Greenbaum et al. 2020). Negative emotional responses may be positively related to awareness and action (Borum Chattoo and Feldman 2017), and both the positive and negative affective reactions can predict behavioural changes beyond what the level of narrative transportation predicted (Murphy et al. 2011), reflecting the strong emotional engagement with the cause. ...
... It was also the only affective path leading to high involvement CSB. This finding confirms the study by Greenbaum et al. (2020) that negative emotional responses can lead to prosocial behaviour as corrective actions to change a morally disturbing situation and/ or support the victim. ...
... The introduction of a negative sub-dimension of affective engagement, an approach often overlooked in customer engagement research (Naumann et al. 2020), made it possible to discover an additional pathway of the influence of narrative transportation on CSB in the no-story scenario (Scenario 2). Although the impact of negative emotions on prosocial behaviour was previously considered (Greenbaum et al. 2020), the analysis of negative affective engagement as a factor enhancing the impact of narrative transportation Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved. ...
Charities engage customers with their cause to encourage charity support behaviours (CSB) and often use storytelling to create that impact. We argue that mechanisms underpinning this process manifest in the story recipients’ engagement with a sequence of focal objects—from the story (i.e. through narrative transportation) to the cause it concerns (i.e. customer engagement), to the charity that supports the cause (i.e. CSB). An online survey (n = 585) required participants to alternatively read a story of a person experiencing homelessness or a general text about homelessness. Results show that narrative transportation leads to CSB through different cognitive, affective, and conative customer engagement paths. Using both narrative and non-narrative text, managers can appeal to specific dimensions of customer engagement to elicit high and low involvement CSB.
... Guilt appeals are a type of persuasive communication that evokes feelings of guilt to influence persuasive outcomes (O'Keefe, 2000). In essence, guilt appeals arouse guilt by activating a self-evaluative process through which the perceiver finds their behavior deviating from their moral and social standards (Tangney et al., 2007;Greenbaum et al., 2020). Aroused guilt elicits reparative behaviors toward the victim, such as apologies, compensation, and cooperative behaviors, to undo the harm and reduce conflicts (de Hooge et al., 2011;Chrdileli and Kasser, 2018). ...
... /fpsyg. . multiple processes, meaning that the antecedents of guilt arousal may vary across different studies (Tangney et al., 2007;Greenbaum et al., 2020). One factor is the attribution of the cause of other's suffering (Tracy and Robins, 2006). ...
... The stability dimension is crucial to distinguish guilt from other moral emotions, such as shame (Tracy and Robins, 2004). Compared with shame, guilt arises from one's attention to the unstable aspect of the self, such as behaviors, as opposed to one's personality, character, and other stable aspects (Greenbaum et al., 2020). To influence the appraisal of stability, guilt appeals provide evaluation information showing that the nature of a causal event is changeable (Xu and Guo, 2018). ...
Introduction
Guilt appeals are widely used as a persuasive approach in various areas of practice. However, the strength and direction of the persuasive effects of guilt appeals are mixed, which could be influenced by theoretical and methodological factors.
Method
The present study is a comprehensive meta-analysis of 26 studies using a random-effects model to assess the persuasive effects of guilt appeals. In total, 127 effect sizes from seven types of persuasive outcomes (i.e., guilt, attitude, behavior, behavioral intention, non-guilt emotions, motivation, and cognition) were calculated based on 7,512 participants.
Results
The analysis showed a small effect size of guilt appeals [ g = 0.19, 95% CI (0.10, 0.28)]. The effect of guilt appeals was moderated by the theoretical factors related to appraisal and coping of guilt arousal, including attributed responsibility, controllability and stability of the causal factors, the proximity of perceiver-victim relationship, recommendation of reparative behaviors, and different outcome types. The effect was also associated with methods used in different studies.
Discussion
Overall, the findings demonstrated the persuasive effects of guilt appeals, but theoretical and methodological factors should be considered in the design and testing of guilt appeals. We also discussed the practical implications of the findings.
... contempt, anger, and disgust), and self-condemning (i.e. shame and guilt) emotions (For a review, see: Greenbaum et al., 2020). On the contrary, other-praising moral emotions are the "positive feelings that occur when another person upholds moral standards" (Greenbaum et al., 2020, p. 96). ...
... Similarly, the moral intensity of other-praising moral emotions, which encompass gratitude and moral elevation (Greenbaum et al., 2020;Haidt, 2003), depends on who is the beneficiary of the organization's perceived good deeds. Gratitude finds its source in first-party treatment (McCullough et al., 2002;McCullough et al., 2001) and thus arises when observers witness that the organization upholds its obligations to treat them fairly (Ford et al., 2018). ...
... In contrast, the literature had not yet studied the link between CSR and other-directed emotions, which conceptually are more closely related to the deontic justice path. Unlike organizational pride, moral elevation is an other-directed and otherpraising moral emotion driven by moral excellence (Greenbaum et al., 2020). By showing that employees can experience moral elevation as a result of their organization's CSR toward a secondary stakeholder, we offer empirical support for the argument, grounded in deontic justice, that employees may care about CSR because it is the moral thing to do (in addition to caring because this CSR has personal material and/or relational benefits). ...
While research addressing the micro-foundations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has often built on the deontic theory of justice to explain why employees care about their organization’s CSR, the mechanisms underlying this deontic path have seldom been examined. Therefore, we study moral elevation, an other-directed moral emotion that, according to deontic theory of justice, could help us understand why employees may react positively to their organization’s CSR even when it does not offer employees significant self-centered benefits. We advance that moral elevation substantiates the deontic mechanism put forward to explain why CSR translates into employees’ behavior supporting this CSR. We carry out an experiment and a survey that provide support for this hypothesis. By identifying moral elevation as a mechanism underlying the deontic path, our research provides empirical support for the deontic argument in micro-CSR research that employees care about CSR because CSR is the moral thing to do.
... anger, contempt, and sympathy), and self-directed emotions, which center on the self (e.g. guilt, shame, and embarrassment) (Eisenberg, 2000;Greenbaum et al., 2020). For example, other-directed moral anger may propel leaders to take action against those who violate norms (Zhang et al., 2024), whereas self-directed moral guilt prompts leaders to reflect on themselves and engage in more helping behaviors (Ji et al., 2021). ...
... Leader benevolence, a measure of ethical qualities, captures a leader's intent to care for and benefit followers beyond self-interest (Mayer & Davis, 1999). A leader's guilt expression signals a commitment to restore mutual relationships (Greenbaum et al., 2020). Such commitment fosters followers' perception of the leader as responsive and caring, thus increasing their evaluation of the leader's benevolence (Wahlers et al., 2024). ...
The role of other-directed moral emotions (e.g. anger) in constructing leadership ethics is well-discussed, yet the effects of leaders expressing self-directed moral emotions remain under-explored. This paper focuses on guilt, a typical self-conscious moral emotion, to investigate the interpersonal prosocial impact of a leader’s guilt expression. Drawing from the emotion as social information theory, we propose that a leader’s guilt expression can enhance followers’ forgiveness and organizational citizen behaviors by evoking followers’ moved emotions and delivering the leader’s benevolence information. Additionally, we examine the moderating role of the quality of leader–member exchange in these effects. Our results, obtained through a two-wave field survey (Study 1), a critical incident technique experiment (Study 2), and a scenario experiment (Study 3), provide support for most of our hypotheses. Our research contributes to the EASI theory and literature on emotions and provides practical guidance on leader emotional management.
... These social contexts and interactions engage emotions, allowing individuals to share their emotional experiences (Akg€ un et al., 2016). Since the experience of moral elevation is another oriented emotion (Greenbaum et al., 2020), it possesses a collective nature. For instance, previous studies have shown that people who experience moral elevation are more likely to help others, donate to charities, and support humanitarian policies (Xie et al., 2024). ...
... Furthermore, when individuals encounter unexpected events such as major life events, natural disasters, wars, or pandemics witnessing moral transcendence, they respond to it. It may encourage them to become better people and give back to the world (Greenbaum et al., 2020). ...
Purpose
This paper aims to extend the concept of moral elevation from the individual level to the team/group level by introducing the notion of collective moral elevation (CME) and elucidating its emergence.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on social exchange theory and social capital arguments, this paper presents a conceptual framework that outlines the mechanisms through which moral norms, organizational symbols, social cohesion and repeated interactions facilitate the transition from individual internalization of norms to collective aggregation of moral elevation.
Findings
The proposed framework emphasizes the processual nature of CME, highlighting the importance of understanding sequences of events rather than merely examining static relationships between variables.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the pioneering academic works to offer a novel perspective on moral elevation, exploring its manifestation at the collective level and elucidating the dynamics of its emergence and evolution within teams and groups in organizational settings. Our proposed framework explicates how moral norms, organizational symbols, social cohesion, emulation and their iterations allow individuals to transition from individual internalization of norms to collective aggregation of moral elevation.
... Specifically, observers will be more likely to perceive the coworker as undeserving of being assigned illegitimate tasks when they hold a high level of interpersonal liking for this coworker. This, in turn, elicits the observer's sympathy, which is typically accompanied by a behavioural tendency to help the recipient (Feather, 2006;Greenbaum et al., 2020). In contrast, disliking the coworker prompts a deservingness judgement, reducing both the observer's sympathetic emotion and following helping behaviour. ...
... Specifically, general negative emotions (e.g. distress, anxiety) typically trigger a fight-or-flight response, whereas moral emotions are more likely to motivate individuals to engage in helping behaviour (Greenbaum et al., 2020;Jeong et al., 2023). As an other-oriented moral emotion, sympathy implies that the observer is painfully aware that their coworkers' suffering from encountering illegitimate tasks needs relief (Wisp� e, 1986), which will lead to the observer undertaking helping behaviour to relieve the coworkers' distress, thereby alleviating their own negative feelings. ...
Purpose
Previous studies have mainly focused on the negative impact of illegitimate tasks on recipients but ignored its impact on observers. Drawing on deservingness theory, this research developed a moderated serial mediation model to examine the underlying mechanism in the relationship between observed illegitimate tasks and observers’ helping behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
This research tested the model using a sample of 218 employees in China through a two-wave field study. A path analysis was conducted with the bootstrapping procedure to test the hypothesized model.
Findings
The results showed that the effect of observing illegitimate tasks was contingent upon the degree of the observer’s interpersonal liking towards the recipient. Specifically, when the observer had a high level of interpersonal liking for a coworker, the observer may perceive that the coworker was undeserving of being assigned illegitimate tasks, which increased sympathetic emotion and the sequent helping behaviour.
Originality/value
This study shifted the perspective of the illegitimate task literature from the recipient to the third parties. Additionally, it provided a finer-grained understanding of the mechanism between observed workplace disrespectful treatment and the observer’s helping behaviour.
... Other emotions were connected to what physicians had concretely done in facing the Covid-19 pandemic and to the moral evaluation of their behavior as being good or bad. We therefore categorized these emotions as moral emotions, based on the relevant associated literature (Greenbaum, Bonner, Gray, & Mawritz, 2020;Haidt, 2003a). ...
... Moral emotions are a source of moral judgment because they connote one's actions as good or bad (Haidt, 2003a). Positive moral emotions, in particular, such as relief and elevation, have been shown to provide encouragement and reinforcement to altruistic and prosocial behaviors (Greenbaum, et al., 2020), leading people to further engage and even expand the practices that made them experience that positive moral emotion in the first place. Our findings suggest that positive moral emotions were indeed fundamental to encouraging physicians in pursuing the sets of service-oriented practices they progressively engaged in. ...
... Typically, moral functioning is described as individual moral psychological factors (i.e., cognitive, affective, and behavioral factors that become engaged in moral contexts) operating together to interpret and respond to moral information, enabling us to function as a more-orless moral individual. Recent literature has identified key moral psychological factors [17,18] that include (but are not limited to) an individual's moral identity or self, awareness, intuitions, judgments, reasoning, intentions, decisions, emotions, behaviors, and responsibility [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. Importantly, these factors operate differently when moral concerns involve or are related to oneself, others, or issues in the social environment [27,35]. ...
... The framework includes consideration for situational, individual, and social normative moderators Trends in Cognitive Sciences as overt influences that largely fall outside the agent's locus of control [36,89,90]. We have included the ten primary psychological factors listed in the preceding text: a moral identity or self [19,20], awareness [21], intuitions [22,23], judgment [24], reasoning [25,26], intentions [27], decisions [28], emotions [29,30], behaviors [31,32], and moral responsibility [33,34]. Functioning for these factors is punctuated by moral events [91,92] and learning [93,94], which the individual may or may not be aware is occurring. ...
Contemplative practices are a staple of modern life and have historically been intertwined with morality. However, do these practices in fact improve our morality? The answer remains unclear because the science of contemplative practices has focused on unidimensional aspects of morality, which do not align with the type of interdependent moral functioning these practices aspire to cultivate. Here, we appeal to a multifactor construct, which allows the assessment of outcomes from a contemplative intervention across multiple dimensions of moral cognition and behavior. This offers an open-minded and empirically rigorous investigation into the impact of contemplative practices on moral actions. Using this framework, we gain insight into the effect of mindfulness meditation on morality, which we show does indeed have positive influences, but also some negative influences, distributed across our moral functioning.
... Current social challenges trigger substantial concerns for business ethics, which have attracted the interest of scholars and practitioners (Calabretta et al., 2011;Van Gils et al., 2014;Wang et al., 2016). Scandals related to corporate abuse, organizational fraud, and environmental unsustainability nurture the management debate about business ethics, with a focus on morality (DeTienne et al., 2021;Greenbaum et al., 2020), fairness (Banks et al., 2021;Sharif & Scandura, 2014), and integrity (De Cremer & Moore, 2020). Ethics generally refers to "…moral rules, standards, codes, or principles which provide guidelines for right and truthful behavior in specific situations" (Lewis, 1985, p. 382, as cited in Van Gils et al., 2014, including business activities (Hoffman & Moore, 1982). ...
Drawing on virtue ethics and stakeholder theory, the article investigates the unfolding of business ethics in the wine industry, with a focus on family businesses. Attention is specifically paid to the interplay of internal (i.e., employees-centeredness and organizational inclusiveness) and external (i.e., people-centeredness and territorial development) ethical orientations. A unique sample of 164 Italian wine businesses was built to get evidence of how the nexus of internal and external ethical orientations is handled, emphasizing the distinctive traits of family businesses. We found that employee-centeredness nurtured organizational inclusiveness and fostered people-centeredness. Interestingly, the family businesses’ concern for territorial development curbed the positive implications of employee-centeredness on people-centeredness. The study results extend scholarly knowledge, shedding light on a ‘grey’ side of family businesses’ ethics.
... When injustices against others occur, bystanders often automatically form intuitive evaluations of right or wrong in the form of moral emotions (Folger, 2012;Haidt, 2001)-"emotions that are linked to … welfare … of persons other than the judge" (Haidt, 2003, p. 853). Anger is the primary moral emotion felt when coworkers witness racism (Greenbaum et al., 2020), which violates individual rights such as fairness, respect, care, and dignity (Rozin et al., 1999). Anger then functions as an intuitive signal to these coworkers that something is wrong and motivates actions such as confrontation to address racism (Haidt, 2001(Haidt, , 2003. ...
Despite Americans’ recent heightened awareness of racial inequality, anti-Asian racism at work remains underrecognized and largely unaddressed. In this research, we aim to understand why White bystander coworkers may fail to confront anti-Asian racism. Integrating the moral exclusion perspective and research on racial positions, we propose that due to perceiving Asian Americans as more foreign than other non-White coworkers, White coworkers are less likely to feel anger and engage in confrontation when witnessing anti-Asian racism at work. We first conducted a survey study (Study 1), demonstrating the external validity of the phenomenon that White coworkers are less likely to confront racism when the victim is Asian American versus Black. We then conducted two experiments (Studies 2 and 3) with a realistic, interactive design and behavioral measures of confrontation, supporting our hypothesized mechanisms (i.e., perceived target foreignness and anger). Study 3 further generalized our theory by including Hispanic/Latinx American targets as an additional comparison group and showing that the relative perceived foreignness among Asian American, Hispanic/Latinx American, and Black targets reduced White coworkers’ anger and confrontation. We then conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our work.
... Moral emotions can be categorized based on whether the behavior upholds or violates moral standards and whether the focus is on the victim/beneficiary or the actor. These emotions are divided into several types based on their valence and target: other-praising (e.g., gratitude, moral elevation), othercondemning (e.g., anger, contempt, disgust), self-condemning (e.g., guilt, shame), and other-suffering (e.g., sympathy) (Greenbaum et al., 2019;Haidt, 2001). Anger is considered a moral emotion when it arises from a violation of moral accountability rather than from a setback to personal self-interest (Folger & Skarlicki, 2005). ...
This study investigates how three types of emotions (anger, affective empathy, and cognitive empathy) mediate the relationship between crisis type and corporate social responsibility (CSR) fit and organizational outcomes such as purchase intentions, negative word‐of‐mouth (nwom), organizational reputation, as well as forgiveness. An online 2 (crisis type: product‐harm vs. moral‐harm) x 2 (CSR fit: high fit vs. low fit) between‐subjects design (N = 412) was conducted with the participants recruited via CloudResearch, a crowdsourcing platform. The findings indicate that anger significantly mediates the relationship between crisis \type and crisis outcomes, with product‐harm crises increasing anger and leading to more negative outcomes. Conversely, high CSR fit reduces anger and enhances positive organizational outcomes. Affective empathy also mediates these relationships, with product‐harm crises lowering affective empathy and CSR fit improving it, subsequently influencing purchase intentions, reputation, forgiveness, and negative word‐of‐mouth. Cognitive empathy partially mediates these effects, particularly affecting negative word‐of‐mouth, reputation, and forgiveness. These results suggest that managing stakeholder emotions through CSR alignment can effectively mitigate negative impacts during crises. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
... Employees express feelings of wrath and contempt when things don't as go as planned, according to (Greenbaum et al., 2020). Workers will be disgusted and angry below a dictatorial leadership (bossy, arrogant, and expecting unquestionable loyalty). ...
Purpose-The research is intended to find out the impact of unethical leadership on workplace place deviance and moral disgust. Furthermore, the study also evaluated the impact of moral disgust on workplace deviance. The study also evaluated the mediating role of moral disgust in the relationship between unethical leadership and workplace deviance. Design/Methodology/Approach-This longitudinal study is quantitative. The study utilized existing scales to test the proposed mode. Data for the study was gathered from 305 faculty members of different universities in Pakistan. Findings-Results of this study show a positive relationship between unethical leadership with workplace place deviance and moral disgust. In addition, the data also supported a positive relationship between moral disgust and workplace place deviance. The findings of this study also indicate that the relationship between unethical leadership and workplace place deviance is mediated by moral disgust. Originality/Value of research-The results of this study is important because this is the first study in the context of the public sector universities of Pakistan that investigates the interrelationship between unethical leadership, moral disgust, and workplace place deviance. Limitations-The sample size, a limited number of variables involved in constructing the model of the study, and data collected from one education sector only are some of the limitations of the current study.
... According to the find-remind-and-bind theory (Algoe, 2012), gratitude (1) helps people find high-quality interpersonal connections, (2) reminds them of current responsive interaction partners, and (3) binds people together, solidifying existing relationships. Moreover, gratitude was conceptualized as a moral emotion (Greenbaum et al., 2020;McCullough et al., 2001) and should act as a moral motive. People high in state and trait gratitude were shown to be more motivated to behave prosocially not only towards their initial benefactor (direct reciprocity), but also toward third parties (indirect reciprocity) (see Ma et al., 2017, for a meta-analysis). ...
In this two-wave study, we tested whether there would be positive and reciprocal relationships between employees’ gratitude and the job resources they perceive at work, as well as between gratitude and job crafting behaviours. Moreover, we explored whether job crafting could mediate the relationship between gratitude and job resources. The participants were 275 Romanian employees. No evidence for reciprocal relationships was found. Results showed that gratitude at T1 predicted more job resources at T2 (three months later), but job resources did not predict employees’ gratitude over time. One dimension of job crafting (increasing challenging job demands) at T1 positively predicted employees’ gratitude at T2, but the prospective effect of gratitude on job crafting was not significant (except for a marginally significant effect on increasing structural job resources). Job crafting did not mediate the longitudinal relationship between employees’ gratitude and job resources. These findings are discussed in relation to previous literature.
... At the next point it is interpreted that work is an honor, which means that human dignity will be elevated and proud by working. This contrasts with humans who do not have a job or are unemployed (Greenbaum et al., 2020). ...
This research aims to analyze the concept of Tauhidunomics used by Muslim entrepreneurs in Tasikmalaya. The method used is qualitative, with interview techniques from sources scattered in the city center and Tasikmalaya. The findings of this study indicate that Tauhidunomics is a concept of trading that Muslim entrepreneurs carry out by holding on to norms (the holy book-sunnah) and religious religiosity (the role of religious leaders and communities). The concepts and values of Tauhidunomics are individual honesty, hard work, frugality, commitment, openness, and calculation, and the social as diligent giving, providing guarantees and advancing fellow employees.
... Scholars, as previously said, appear to lack a complete understanding of each of the three expressions of this emotion due to definitional and operational opacity. Gratitude is closely related to other positive emotions (e.g., Fehr et al.,2017;Greenbaum et al.,2020) and has been equated with other discrete emotions or diffuse moods (e.g., Janicke-Bowles et al., Komter,2004), which adds to its conceptual clarity concerns. Despite having trait, state, and expressive forms, thankfulness is frequently employed interchangeably with the related but separate concept of appreciation (Adler & Fagley,2005;Gordon et al.,2012). ...
... An individual's temporary moral disengagement can be explained by situation-specific elements (Bandura, 1990). For example, employees in a toxic environment with an abusive managerial presence tend to lower their moral standards and engaged in antisocial behavior (Greenbaum et al., 2020). In contrast, employees under ethical leadership are more likely to make ethical decisions because ethical leadership highlights high moral standards and creates a healthy work environment (Moore et al., 2019). ...
Disrespectful tourist behavior is rampant and has jeopardized the sustainability of many destinations. Despite the prevalence and detrimental impact of such behavior, existing knowledge regarding the psychological factors causing such behavior is scarce. This study investigates the impact of tourists’ perceptions of residents, through the lens of social stereotypes, on the manifestation of disrespectful behavior. Two quantitative survey studies, with sample sizes of 308 and 303, respectively, assess the tripartite connection between tourists’ stereotyped perception of residents, affective reactions toward the destination, and moral disengagement on a range of tourist misbehavior. The results of the study suggest that tourists’ stereotypical views of locals influence affective reactions in response to the destination. Tourists’ positive affective responses are negatively associated with moral disengagement, whereas negative emotions about the destination are likely to increase moral disengagement, the degree of which is moderated by perceived power. Theoretical and practical implications for the field are also discussed.
... These emotions will automatically and instantly evoke one's sense of punishment or reinforcement [1]. In this way, they will help people judge whether they behave in accordance with moral standards efficiently [12]. Although cognition is considered to be the basis of the production of moral emotions, moral emotions have something special about creating motivational forces [7]. ...
Moral emotions affect peoples behaviors, and children are at the age of advancing cognitive abilities as well as developing moral emotions. The review elaborated on the influencing factors of childrens moral emotions from four perspectives: family, education, innate nature and interactions within moral emotions. Previous studies have found that family effects are inconsistent and need to be examined. The patterns of classrooms would make a difference, and methods aimed at nurturing childrens moral emotions are approachable. Among innate natures, the effort to control their temperaments contributes to childrens moral emotions. Apart from that, some moral emotions would promote or hamper others. This article provides a comprehensive review for understanding how childrens moral emotions are influenced, which can help people attach importance to this aspect of child development and help explore further research.
... UB-targeted leader anger expression can be significantly distinct from leader anger expression targeted at other issues in terms of the information delivered and interpersonal effects . In the context of unethical behaviors, the leader's anger expression signals that the leader has recognized the violation of moral codes and tends to discipline the moral violator to uphold moral order and social norms (Dasborough et al., 2020;Greenbaum et al., 2020;Hutcherson & Gross, 2011;Lindebaum & Gabriel, 2016;Lindebaum & Geddes, 2016). Leadership literature has long recognized leaders' emotional expression as an integral component of the leadership process (Bass, 1985;Bono & Ilies, 2006;Cherulnik et al., 2001), with anger expression as a particular form of influence strategy and a key ingredient of the process (Shao & Guo, 2020). ...
Although leader anger expression targeted at employees' unethical behavior is pervasive in the workplace, we still know little about its theoretical meaning and consequences. To address this theoretical blind spot, we drew on fairness heuristic theory to investigate whether, how, and when unethical‐behavior‐targeted (UB‐targeted) leader anger expression affects team outcomes. Our findings from two time‐lagged field studies suggest that a punishment‐based distributive justice climate mediates the positive effects of UB‐targeted leader anger expression on team organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and team viability. Moreover, leader moral decoupling weakens these indirect relationships. Specifically, the indirect relationships are weaker when the leader separated judgments of performance from those of ethics. These findings highlight the importance of a fairness perspective in understanding the consequences of leader anger expression targeted at unethical behaviors.
... We propose that both foreign domestic helpers and LGBT groups elicit compassion. Compassion is triggered when witnessing others suffering, being victims of moral violations, and being encouraged to help (Greenbaum et al., 2020). The above-mentioned scenarios are similar to the circumstances faced by foreign helpers and LGBT people in Singapore and Hong Kong. ...
Improving people's motivation to seek meaningful intergroup contact is considered key to facilitating intergroup harmony. Based on moral foundations theory, this study examines how moral foundations as individual traits predict contact willingness with three minority groups (foreign domestic helpers, LGBT, and Chinese expats) and how moral emotions mediate such associations. We tested our hypotheses based on survey data across Hong Kong and Singapore. We found that care/harm foundation positively predicted contact willingness with foreign domestic helpers and LGBT people, mediated by compassion. Sanctity/degradation foundation negatively predicted contact willingness with LGBT people only in Singapore. Loyalty/betrayal foundation served as a positive predictor of willingness to contact Chinese expats. We also found care/harm foundation to be exclusively associated with compassion and promoted willingness to contact with helpers and LGBT people. Our findings highlight the influence of moral foundations, and possibly norms and intergroup dynamics at the societal level in predicting willingness to contact outgroups.
... Recent works also explore various facets that our moral judgments may rely on, including memories (Gawronski and Brannon 2020), contexts (Schein 2020), etc. Moral psychologists propose descriptive theories (Wikipedia 2023) to describe how humans make moral judgments. Influential theories include the moral foundation theory (Graham et al. 2013), which analyzes a scenario based on five fundamental moral emotions (Greenbaum et al. 2020 (Bentham et al. 1781;Sinnot 2012), as well as justice (Rawls 2020;Miller 2023). These theories have profound impact on our society. ...
Making moral judgments is an essential step toward developing ethical AI systems. Prevalent approaches are mostly implemented in a bottom-up manner, which uses a large set of annotated data to train models based on crowd-sourced opinions about morality. These approaches have been criticized for potentially overgeneralizing a limited group of annotators' moral stances and lacking explainability. In contrast, top-down approaches make moral judgments grounded in a set of principles. However, it remains conceptual due to the incapability of previous language models and the unsolved debate among moral principles. In this study, we propose a flexible framework to steer Large Language Models (LLMs) to perform moral reasoning with well-established moral theories from interdisciplinary research. The theory-guided top-down framework can incorporate various moral theories. Our experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework on datasets derived from moral theories. Furthermore, we show the alignment between different moral theories and existing morality datasets. Our analysis exhibits the potentials and flaws in existing resources (models and datasets) in developing explainable moral judgment-making systems.
... However, we still have little knowledge on the emotional/cognitive processes or integrative moral emotion-cognition mechanisms related to workplace moral or immoral behavior. For example, it is unclear how exhibiting (im)moral behavior in the workplace would impact the perpetrator's and the third-party observer's emotions, thoughts, feelings, and subsequent behavior (Greenbaum et al., 2020). Besides, the question of whether ethical/unethical leader behavior would trigger a "trickle-down effect" is underdeveloped (Ogunfowora et al., 2022). ...
... example,Greenbaum, Bonner Gray and Mawritz (2020) identify similar 'families' of moral emotions in relation to two of Steinbock's classifications, namely self-conscious and otherdirected emotions, and an earlier treatment(Tangney, Stuewig & Mashek, 2007) includes pride in a similar mix along with other positive emotions and their role in other-directed empathy. Wright, Zammuto and Liesch (2017) on the other hand, follow Haidt (2003) in defining moral emotions as those solely concerned with the welfare of, or experience of harm by, others. ...
Often, emotions are seen to be a threat to organizations; they are perceived to require regulation and containment to limit their disruptive effects. However, individuals’ moral emotions can have positive effects for organizations, by motivating appraisal of the context in which inappropriate conduct takes place to support adaptation and encouraging action. These are effects that organizations will likely wish to promote. To enable more thoughtful engagement with the positive potential of moral emotions, it is necessary to understand how and why these effects may be constrained in organizational contexts such that negative outcomes arise. Accordingly, this paper builds on current research on moral emotions and mobilises functional conflict theory to theorise how the communication or regulation of moral emotions – and the conflict between these alternatives – may exacerbate issues with authentic communication, effective learning and adaptation. The paper also theorises how limiting outcomes may arise when the organizational context for an experience of moral emotion favours rapid association of the context with earlier concerns, rather than a more adaptive pathway afforded by the alternative response of motivated, thoughtful appraisal. Practical suggestions for addressing these issues, along with suggestions for future research, are also outlined.
... 853). Moral emotions can be divided into families (Greenbaum et al., 2020), one of which includes the other-condemning emotions of contempt, anger, and disgustthe so-called "CAD Triad" (Rozin et al., 1999). These emotions can be combined (Hutcherson & Gross, 2011) and termed moral outrage (Molho et al., 2017). ...
Mindfulness is known to temper negative reactions by both victims and perpetrators of injustice. Accordingly, critics claim that mindfulness numbs people to injustice, raising concerns about its moral implications. Examining how mindful observers respond to third-party injustice, we integrate mindfulness with deontic justice theory to propose that mindfulness does not numb but rather enlivens people to injustice committed by others against others. Results from three studies show that mindfulness heightens moral outrage in witnesses of injustice, particularly when the injustice is only moderate. Although these findings did not replicate with a mindfulness induction, post-hoc analysis in a fourth study reveals that measured state mindfulness perhaps heightens moral outrage when observers have a weak deontic justice orientation. In documenting this moral enlivening effect, we demonstrate that mindfulness – measured as a state or trait – leads people to exact greater deontic retribution against perpetrators of third-party injustice.
While the antecedents of unethical pro-family behavior (UPFB) have been widely examined by scholars, research on the consequences of UPFB remains relatively scarce. Taking a paradox theory perspective, we explored the effects of UPFB on actors’ work engagement through emotional ambivalence (guilt & pride) and the boundary role of dialectical thinking in this relationship. We used two studies, a scenario experimental study and a survey study, to test our hypotheses. Study 1 used 153 part-time MBA students as participants randomly divided into UPFB condition and control condition for the scenario experiment; Study 2 used 259 employees from several companies as a sample for a 3-wave survey. Our findings show that UPFB negatively impacts work engagement through emotional ambivalence. In addition, dialectical thinking negatively moderated the mediating effect of emotional ambivalence on the relationship between UPFB and work engagement, with this mediating effect being significant only at lower levels of dialectical thinking. which implies that both employees and their organizations should take measures to prevent the negative consequences associated with UPFB.
Illegitimate tasks are identified as common stressors in the workplace. Yet, research has predominantly linked illegitimate tasks to counterproductive work behaviours (CWBs) while overlooking why and how illegitimate tasks are related to employees' different CWBs. Drawing on the face research and the approach–avoidance framework, this article develops a model that delineates both approach‐ and avoidance‐oriented responses to illegitimate tasks. Specifically, we posit that the two dimensions of face consciousness— desire to gain face (approach‐oriented face) and fear of losing face (avoidance‐oriented face)—differently relate to employees' emotional and CWBs reactions to daily illegitimate tasks. We tested our hypotheses using 855 observations collected from 91 full‐time employees across 10 consecutive working days. Results showed that employees higher on desire to gain face are more likely to feel angry and engage in interpersonal deviance (approach‐oriented CWBs) because of daily illegitimate tasks than those lower on it. Employees higher on fear of losing face, however, are likely to feel anxious and engage in interaction avoidance (avoidance‐oriented CWBs) when confronted with daily illegitimate tasks. Overall, these findings provide a social image and face perspective for understanding employees' various CWBs caused by illegitimate tasks and inspire management practices.
Unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) is currently common among employees and has potential negative ramifications for society as a whole. Thus, such behavior has attracted increasing attention from organizational scholars. However, the effect of employees’ UPB on their counterproductive work behavior (CWB) has yet to be fully established. Based on the moral self-regulation perspective, in this study we developed and tested the effect of employees’ UPB on their subsequent CWB. We applied the experience sampling method using data from 62 insurance brokers and their leaders, collected from various time points and sources, and found that when their leaders demonstrated higher levels of ethical leadership, employees’ UPB was more likely to decrease their subsequent CWB by heightening their perception of a loss of moral credit and thus evoking feelings of shame. This effect became nonsignificant with a low level of ethical leadership. These findings have several theoretical and practical implications, and we suggest directions for future research.
This study examines the relationship between counterproductive work behavior (CWB) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), as well as the role of guilt (G), emotional exhaustion (EE), organizational justice (OJ), and moral identity (MI). This study used a quantitative method. Using a questionnaire to survey employees working at state-owned enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City, we collected 379 valid responses and verified the model using Smart PLS. Results showed that CWB, G, and EE had direct effects on OCB in different ways. Regarding indirect effects, since CWB positively affects EE, EE plays a mediating role in the relationship between CWB and OCB. Furthermore, the results of the data analysis showed that OJ only moderated the relationship between CWB and EE. Finally, MI had different moderating effects on the relationships between G and OCB and EE and OCB. Since CWB does not benefit organizations or employees, organizations need to pay attention to CWB in the workplace and identify the causes that promote these behaviors to find appropriate solutions.
While previous research has mostly focused on visionary leadership's positive effects, real‐world examples suggest that such leadership might sometimes also cause followers to engage in unethical prosocial behavior to contribute to a vision's noble cause. However, the process and the conditions under which this occurs are poorly understood. We draw on the theory of motivated moral reasoning to argue that visionary leadership promotes follower moral elevation and, in turn, follower unethical prosocial behavior, but that this effect is contingent on the follower's dispositional tendency for perspective‐taking. In two experimental studies, we show that visionary leadership only has a positive effect on unethical prosocial behavior through moral elevation among followers with a high dispositional tendency for perspective‐taking. Our work identifies the specific mechanism through which visionary leadership is related to unethical prosocial behavior as well as an important boundary condition of this effect. Moreover, it integrates the respective literatures on visionary leadership, moral emotions, and moral judgment.
Research on moral decision-making in organizations has expanded significantly over the past few decades. In this review, we build on prior comprehensive reviews on the topic to provide an updated view of the field, based on the latest findings. We first provide a brief historical overview of influential theories of moral decision-making and then describe the individual characteristics, interpersonal factors, and organizational factors that have been shown to influence people's morally relevant choices, as well as the cognitive, affective, and even physiological processes at play. We then provide a more critical view of the field and focus on what we do not know, suggesting several avenues for future research. Specifically, we call for more research that incorporates the temporal dynamics of moral decision-making in organizations and that better accounts for the nature of the real-world moral issues people face at work. We conclude with some practical implications.
Do abusive supervisors benefit from their own harmful behaviors, or do they experience the same repercussions as their victims do? This article extends a growing stream of research that aims to understand how bad actors process their own negative actions, when they are most impacted by their adverse behaviors, and how their job performance is influenced as a result. We ground this research in a moral emotions perspective to suggest that enacted abusive supervision elicits prominent moral responses (i.e., shame or guilt), which subsequently influence the supervisor’s own work conduct. Specifically, we suggest that feelings of guilt will prompt an abusive boss to compensate for their negative behaviors by increasing performance efforts, whereas supervisors with feelings of shame will withdraw and exhibit lower work performance. Multiple mediation results from Study 1 revealed that abusive supervisors predominantly experience shame and, in turn, reduced performance. In Study 2, we expand on these findings by considering the moderating role of supervisor core self-evaluations (CSE). We find that the negative relationship between enacted abuse and supervisor performance (through shame) is exacerbated when managers possess a fragile sense of self (i.e., low CSE). Overall, the current article adds to the argument that abusive supervisors do not profit from their own negative behaviors and that they, too, suffer performance setbacks.
Purpose
The present study seeks to examine the impact of ethical leadership on employees’ voice behavior and internal whistleblowing in organizations. Specifically, the study investigates the mediating role of moral emotions in the link between ethical leadership and employees’ reporting behaviors such as voice behavior and internal whistleblowing.
Design/methodology/approach
This research utilized a sample of 200 employees from various private companies in Pakistan, gathering data via questionnaires to validate the hypotheses. We employed Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to evaluate the model and conducted a mediation analysis using 5,000 bootstrap samples.
Findings
This research found that ethical leadership positively impacts employees' moral emotions, encouraging them to voice concerns and report misdeeds. Additionally, the study affirms a direct and positive connection between ethical leadership and employees' reporting behaviors, including voice behavior and internal whistleblowing.
Practical implications
The findings of the study emphasized the development of ethical leadership in organizations by highlighting the critical role of ethical leadership in enhancing moral emotions, voice behavior, and whistleblowing in organizations. It highlights the necessity of promoting moral behavior to enhance organizational effectiveness and the need for ethical leaders to foster an open environment in organizations that encourages whistle bellowing and reporting of unethical practices in organizations.
Originality/value
The current paper extends knowledge of ethical leadership based on the social cognitive theory of morality by considering that moral emotions serve as a strong motivational cognition between ethical leadership and reporting behaviors. Particularly, by examining the mediating role of moral emotion, this study provides a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanism through which ethical leadership influences reporting behaviors of employees at workplace.
Undercover videos have become a popular tool among NGOs to influence public opinion and generate engagement for the NGO’s cause. These videos are seen as a powerful and cost-effective way of bringing about social change, as they provide first-hand evidence and generate a strong emotional response among those who see them. In this paper, we empirically assess the impact of undercover videos on support for the cause. We in addition analyze whether the increased engagement among viewers is driven by the negative emotional reactions produced by the video. To do so, we design an online experiment that enables us to estimate both the total and emotion-mediated treatment effects on engagement by randomly exposing participants to an undercover video (of animal abuse) and randomly introducing a cooling-off period. Using a representative sample of the French population (N=3,310), we find that the video successfully increases actions in favor of animals (i.e., donations to NGOs and petitions), but we fail to prove that this effect is due to the presence of primary emotions induced by the video. Last, we investigate whether activists correctly anticipate their undercover videos’ (emotional) impact via a prediction study involving activists (exploratory analysis).
Protocol registration
This manuscript is a Stage-2 working paper of a Registered Report that received In-Principle-Acceptance from Scientific Reports on November 20th, 2023 [Link to Stage-1]. The Stage-1 that received In-Principal-Acceptance can be found here: https://osf.io/8cg2d.
Objectives of the research: The utilization of media in teaching materials serves to impart knowledge of local wisdom by incorporating visuals tailored to students’ characteristics. Local wisdom as part of national identity should be recognized by the next generation through learning. Each culture in every region possesses unique characteristics that distinguish it from others. Hence, appropriate teaching materials on local wisdom should be developed for elementary school students. This study aims to design teaching materials focusing on addressing terms used in several regions in Riau. Research methods: Employing a Research and Development (R&D) approach, this study follows the 4D model, which consists of defining, designing, developing, and disseminating phases. A short description of the context of the issue: This article underscores the importance of developing local wisdom-based teaching materials for elementary school students. It emphasizes the need for elementary school materials aligning with the local wisdom that are relevant to the local community and facilitate students’ understanding and appreciation of their culture. In today’s digital millennium, many elementary school students lack awareness or appreciation of local wisdom, including familial terms of address. Research findings: In addition, experts in teaching materials, media, and linguistics analyzed the data using descriptive percentage-based methods to validate the findings. Experts evaluated four key aspects: content, language, presentation, and appropriateness. Results indicated high feasibility, with content scoring 95%, language 96.87%, presentation 97.5%, and graphics 93.75%, culminating in an overall average score of 95.78% in the “very feasible” category. These findings suggest potential for broader application and study. Conclusions and recommendations: The development and testing of local wisdom teaching materials for elementary school students have demonstrated their suitability for use. Based on the validation results by experts in teaching, media, and language, the materials are highly feasible, so, further exploration and dissemination of these materials on a larger scale are recommended.
To shed light on the interrelationship between risk and logics, we explore how multiple institutional logics shape management educators’ experiences of risk in classroom teaching. Using a two‐case research design, we analyse an empirical case study of management educators in a UK business school during the COVID‐19 pandemic and a case study of emergency physicians during the Ebola epidemic. Comparing these two focal cases of different types of frontline professional work during global health crises, we develop a model of how perceptions of risks and their mitigation shape, and are shaped by, experiences of compatibility, contestation and rejection among multiple logics. Our study extends the literatures on institutional logics and risk by providing insight into the role of multiple logics in the social construction of risk. We also contribute to the management education literature by focusing attention on the risks of physical harm in classroom teaching and by theorizing when, how and why management educators apprehend these risks as ordinary or extraordinary to their normal professional role. Finally, our study has practical implications for risk mitigation at individual and organizational levels and for creatively and safely adapting teaching and learning practices with students during extreme events.
Duygusal emeğin yoğun olarak ortaya çıktığı havacılık sektöründeki çalışanlar, artan iş talepleri ve diğer hizmet sektörlerine oranla yaşanılan aşırı stres, düzensiz çalışma saatleri ve iş-yaşam dengesinin sağlanamaması gibi birçok olumsuz duruma maruz kalmaktadırlar. Bu olumsuz etkiler, havacılık çalışanlarının işyerine olan bağlılığının azalmasına ve işten ayrılma niyetine sahip olmalarına neden olabilmektedir. Dolayısıyla, bu araştırmada duygusal emek ve işten ayrılma niyeti arasındaki ilişkiye odaklanılmış ve yöneticiye (lidere) bağlılığın söz konusu ilişkideki düzenleyici etkisi sorgulanmıştır. Araştırma kapsamında 364 havacılık çalışanından veri toplanmıştır. Analiz sonuçları, üç boyut olarak ele alınan duygusal emek ve işten ayrılma niyeti arasında anlamlı ve pozitif yönlü ilişkinin bulunduğunu ve yöneticiye bağlılığın düzenleyici etkisinin bulunmadığını ortaya koymuştur. Araştırmanın bulgularına ilişkin tartışmalara yer verilirken, araştırmanın sınırlılıkları ve gelecekteki çalışmalar için önerilere yer verilmiştir.
The gender-job satisfaction paradox, i.e., women reporting higher levels of job satisfaction while facing worse working conditions, has been hotly debated by scholars. This article studies the moderating role of national gender ideology in this paradox. In particular, the focus on Anglo-Saxon countries as well as the lack of attention towards the role of national gender ideology have received criticism. National gender ideology moderates the relationship between gender and job satisfaction: in more egalitarian countries, the gender gap of job satisfaction (to the detriment of women) is more important than in countries with more traditional gender ideologies. These results allow us to discuss expectation theory and the transitory nature of the gender-job satisfaction paradox.
In recent years, organizations, policy makers, and researchers havestarted to promote bystander intervention as an important tool forcombating the problem of interpersonal workplace aggression. Howeffective these interventions are, however, remains largely unknown, asresearch on what happens after a bystander intervenes and howperpetrators react to such intervention is virtually non-existent.Understanding perpetrator reactions is critical because these reactionsmay shape the ultimate outcome of bystander intervention effectiveness.Accordingly, we present a theoretical model that delineates perpetrators’reactions to bystander intervention in incidents of interpersonalworkplace aggression. Building on theories of identity, we theorize theperpetrator’s sensemaking process and its contingencies that shape theirdiverse reactions to the bystander and the target. This paper has vitalimplications both for researchers trying to understand bystander–perpetrator interpersonal dynamics and for practitioners aiming todevelop safe and effective bystander intervention strategies
Scholars have increasingly considered how to promote employee voluntary pro‐environmental behavior (PEB) in the hospitality industry. This research explores the normative pathway underlying the relationship between perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) and voluntary PEB among frontline service employees. Guided by social cognitive theory, we suggest that the relationship between perceived CSR and voluntary PEB is mediated by organizational commitment and that this indirect relationship is moderated by moral efficacy. Multisource data from employees and supervisors ( N = 221 matched pairs) support our proposed moderated mediation relationship, such that moral efficacy strengthens the positive indirect effect of perceived CSR on voluntary PEB via organizational commitment. This study adds to the literature by providing insights and implications for future research on the emergence of voluntary PEB in the hospitality industry.
Employees interact with animals in a myriad of ways in the context of work. Herein, we seek to catalog this multiplex phenomenon in order to gain theoretical insights. Our article unfolds in four parts. First, we conduct an interdisciplinary review from which we develop a typology of four employee-animal interactions: working for, with, around, and on animals. Second, we outline the current research for each discrete category. Third, we consider key divergent experiences (e.g., the uniquely gendered nature of each) and convergent themes (e.g., all animal work is emotional and hierarchical) across the typology. Fourth, we supplement our review with two metasyntheses of other workplace team interactions—employee-employee and employee-machine/artificial intelligence interactions—to highlight how the study of human-animal interactions can address current conundrums in the organizational domain. We do so to demonstrate that considerations of employee-animal interactions can offer theoretical value to scholars, including those who may not have an inherent interest in the phenomenon. We complement theoretical extensions with suggestions for future research on core management topics, including humanizing workplaces, the future of work, and team collaboration.
Gratitude is conceptualized as a moral affect that is analogous to other moral emotions such as empathy and guilt. Gratitude has 3 functions that can be conceptualized as morally relevant: (a) a moral barometer function (i.e., it is a response to the perception that one has been the beneficiary of another person's moral actions); (b) a moral motive function (i.e., it motivates the grateful person to behave prosocially toward the benefactor and other people); and (c) a moral reinforcer function (i.e., when expressed, it encourages benefactors to behave morally in the future). The personality and social factors that are associated with gratitude are also consistent with a conceptualization of gratitude as an affect that is relevant to people's cognitions and behaviors in the moral domain.
We utilize the social intuitionist approach to moral judgment and moral disengagement theory to understand why and when employees sabotage customers. We contend that when customers mistreat employees (i.e., customer mistreatment), employees experience intuitive emotional reactions in the form of hostility, which automatically activates devaluation of targets, a specific facet of moral disengagement. In turn, employees become unencumbered by moral self-regulation and sabotage customers who mistreat them (i.e., customer-directed sabotage). We further argue that our serially mediated model is moderated by employees’ perceptions of the organization’s ethical climate. When ethical climates are perceived as being low, employees’ hostile reactions toward misbehaving customers produce a positive relationship with devaluation of targets, and devaluation of targets results in a positive relationship with customer-directed sabotage. These positive relationships do not hold when ethical climate is perceived as being high. We test our theoretical model using a field sample of customer service employees and an experimental study to establish causality. Our results provide general support for our hypotheses. We discuss theoretical and practical implications and opportunities for future research.
Research on moral judgment has been dominated by rationalist models, in which moral judgment is thought to be caused by moral reasoning. The author gives 4 reasons for considering the hypothesis that moral reasoning does not cause moral judgment; rather, moral reasoning is usually a post hoc construction, generated after a judgment has been reached. The social intuitionist model is presented as an alternative to rationalist models. The model is a social model in that it deemphasizes the private reasoning done by individuals and emphasizes instead the importance of social and cultural influences. The model is an intuitionist model in that it states that moral judgment is generally the result of quick, automatic evaluations (intuitions). The model is more consistent than rationalist models with recent findings in social, cultural, evolutionary, and biological psychology, as well as in anthropology and primatology.
At the heart of emotion, mood, and any other emotionally charged event are states experienced as simply feeling good or bad, energized or enervated. These states - called core affect - influence reflexes, perception, cognition, and behavior and are influenced by many causes internal and external, but people have no direct access to these causal connections. Core affect can therefore be experienced as free-floating (mood) or can be attributed to some cause (and thereby begin an emotional episode). These basic processes spawn a broad framework that includes perception of the core-affect-altering properties of stimuli, motives, empathy, emotional meta-experience, and affect versus emotion regulation; it accounts for prototypical emotional episodes, such as fear and anger, as core affect attributed to something plus various nonemotional processes.
In addressing the call for research to understand affect in sales, this research uses moral affect theory and literature on emotional contagion to examine the effects of salesperson gratitude and customer gratitude on downstream relationship outcomes. The findings of this work suggest that salesperson prosocial behaviors account for the positive association between salesperson gratitude and customer gratitude. These prosocial behaviors – information sharing and extra-role behaviors – combined with customer gratitude serve as explanatory mechanisms for the positive effects of salesperson gratitude on customer commitment, which is an important result of buyer-seller interactions and an essential component of long-term relationships. Further, this research finds that salesperson extra-role behaviors and relationship length interact such that salesperson extra-role behaviors cultivate customer gratitude within developing and established relationships, but that these behaviors are particularly beneficial for less mature relationships. Understanding the role of salesperson gratitude and customer gratitude in driving relational outcomes contributes to both a theoretical understanding of the role of affect in sales and practical applications of emotions within buyer-seller relationships.
In 3 experiments, we examined how customers react after witnessing a fellow customer mistreat an employee. Drawing on the deontic model of justice, we argue that customer mistreatment of employees leads witnesses (i.e., other customers) to leave larger tips, engage in supportive employee-directed behaviors, and evaluate employees more positively (Studies 1 and 2). We also theorize that witnesses develop less positive treatment intentions and more negative retaliatory intentions toward perpetrators, with anger and empathy acting as parallel mediators of our perpetrator- and target-directed outcomes, respectively. In Study 1, we conducted a field experiment that examined real customers' target-directed reactions to witnessed mistreatment in the context of a fast-food restaurant. In Study 2, we replicated Study 1 findings in an online vignette experiment, and extended it by examining more severe mistreatment and perpetrator-directed responses. In Study 3, we demonstrated that employees who respond to mistreatment uncivilly are significantly less likely to receive the positive outcomes found in Studies 1 and 2 than those who respond neutrally. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record
Employee unethical behavior continues to be an area of interest as real-world business scandals persist. We investigate what happens after people engage in unethical behavior. Drawing from emotion theories (e.g., Tangney & Dearing, 2002) and the self-presentation literature (e.g., Leary & Miller, 2000), we first argue that people are socialized to experience shame after moral violations (Hypothesis 1). People then manage their shame and try to protect their self-images by engaging in exemplification behaviors (i.e., self-sacrificial behaviors that give the attribution of being a dedicated person; Hypothesis 2). We also examine the moderating role of supervisor bottom-line mentality (BLM; i.e., a supervisor's singular focus on pursuing bottom-line outcomes) in relation to our theoretical model. We argue that high supervisor BLM intensifies the employee unethical behavior to shame relationship (Hypothesis 3) and results in heightened exemplification as a way to protect one's self-image by portraying the self as a dedicated person who is worthy of association (Hypothesis 4). We test our theoretical model across 2 experimental studies and 2 field studies. Although our results provide general support for Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3, our results produced mixed findings for Hypothesis 4. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
We propose that consideration of affective events theory can enrich our understanding of leader-member exchange (LMX) development. Drawing from previous research, we argue that high-quality LMX relationships progress through three stages: role taking, role making, and role routinization. Affective events theory indicates that emotions are relevant at each of these three stages, although their influence is manifested in different ways and at different levels of analysis. During the initial role-taking stage, leaders' affective expressions serve as affective events influencing member emotions through the processes of emotional contagion and affective empathy, which determine the progress of further relationship development. Next, during the role-making stage, leaders and members are both sources of affective events, and they may gradually become affectively entrained such that their affective states tend to fluctuate in a common rhythm. This pattern of dyadic-level affect helps to build high-quality LMX relationships over time. Finally, during the role routinization stage, an LMX relationship has been formed but, we argue, could subsequently change based on member emotional responses to the distribution of LMX relationships within a workgroup (LMX differentiation).
In response to the same moral violation, some people report experiencing anger, and others report feeling disgust. Do differences in emotional responses to moral violations reflect idiosyncratic differences in the communication of outrage, or do they reflect differences in motivational states? Whereas equivalence accounts suggest that anger and disgust are interchangeable expressions of condemnation, sociofunctional accounts suggest that they have distinct antecedents and consequences. We tested these accounts by investigating whether anger and disgust vary depending on the costs imposed by moral violations and whether they differentially correspond with aggressive tendencies. Results across four studies favor a sociofunctional account: When the target of a moral violation shifts from the self to another person, anger decreases, but disgust increases. Whereas anger is associated with high-cost, direct aggression, disgust is associated with less costly indirect aggression. Finally, whether the target of a moral violation is the self or another person influences direct aggression partially via anger and influences indirect aggression partially via disgust.
Social entrepreneurship has emerged as a complex yet promising organizational form that utilizes market-based methods to address seemingly intractable social issues, but its motivations remain under-theorized. Research asserts that compassion may supplement traditional self-oriented motivations in encouraging social entrepreneurship. We draw upon research on compassion and prosocial motivation to build a model of three mechanisms (integrative thinking, prosocial cost-benefit analysis, and commitment to alleviating others' suffering) which transform compassion into social entrepreneurship, and we identify the institutional conditions under which it is most likely to do so. We conclude by discussing the model's contribution to and implications for the positive organizational scholarship, entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship literatures.
Gratitude and anger represent 2 fundamental moral emotions in response to help or harm. Research suggests that individuals perceive organizations to have humanlike qualities and thus hold them responsible for helpful or harmful treatment. Given this line of reasoning, we hypothesized that workers direct gratitude toward their organizations in response to supportive treatment and anger toward their organizations in response to unsupportive treatment. Gratitude and anger, in turn, were expected to influence daily extrarole behavior. After developing short measures of organization-directed anger and gratitude in 2 pilot studies, we tested these hypotheses in a daily diary study of 54 workers providing 421 daily reports. Results indicate that perceived organizational support was related to chronic gratitude and anger, which is stable from day to day, and chronic gratitude was in turn related to chronic differences in organizational citizenship behavior. Episodic anger and gratitude, which vary daily, were related to daily supervisor interactional justice and helping behavior, respectively, and in turn predicted daily episodic variance in organizational citizenship and counterproductive work behavior. These findings suggest that the moral emotions of gratitude and anger toward the organization are indicators of employee affective well-being and play a mediating role in the effects of organizational and supervisor supportiveness on employee performance.
We propose a theoretical framework for and, via critical incidents, inductively investigate (a) the situations that trigger moral emotions toward others at work and (b) worker responses to these situations. Critical incidents were collected from a heterogeneous sample of 423 workers. Participants described an incident that caused each of four moral emotions (gratitude, anger, admiration, and contempt) and their response. Incidents and responses were coded, and frequencies, differences across the moral emotions, and associations between incidents and responses were analyzed. Several morally relevant situations at work were found to trigger the moral emotions. Participants responded in ways that had implications for their performance and their own well-being. The incidents largely align with moral foundations theory (Haidt and Graham in Social Justice Research, 20, 98–116, 2007). Responses also show evidence for social exchange, social learning, and rational expectancy-based processes and behavior. The incidents specify several practices for managers and organizations to encourage and avoid. This was the first qualitative study of moral emotions at work and one of the few workplace studies to examine these emotions empirically. Several understudied factors and behavioral responses emerged.
"Grand challenges" are formulations of global problems that can be plausibly addressed through coordinated and collaborative effort. In this Special Research Forum, we showcase management research that examines societal problems that individuals, organizations, communities, and nations face around the world. We develop a framework to guide future research to provide systematic empirical evidence on the formulation, articulation, and implementation of grand challenges. We highlight several factors that likely enhance or suppress the attainment of collective goals, and identify representative research questions for future empirical work. In so doing, we aspire to encourage management scholars to engage in tackling broader societal challenges through their collaborative research and collective insight.
Gratitude is a valuable emotion with an array of functional outcomes. Nonetheless, research on gratitude in organizations is limited. In this article we develop a multilevel model of gratitude composed of episodic gratitude at the event level, persistent gratitude at the individual level, and collective gratitude at the organizational level. We then consider the types of human resource initiatives that organizations can develop to cultivate employee gratitude and the contingencies of gratitude's emergence at the individual and organizational levels of analysis. Finally, we elucidate the benefits of gratitude for organizations and their employees. The result is a deeper understanding of how gratitude unfolds in organizations and the role that organizations themselves can play in influencing emotions at multiple levels in the workplace.
Research suggests that benefiting from someone's voluntary, intentional, costly effort encourages reciprocal prosocial behavior, as well as promoting upstream reciprocity, that is, increases reciprocal actions by the recipient for the benefit of an unrelated third party. The current study examines the role of the identifiability of the benefactor in determining the extent to which people engage in direct and upstream reciprocity. Results of three studies reveal that while an identified benefactor tends to engender greater direct reciprocal reactions than an unidentified one, this strong reaction toward the identified benefactor does not hold to the same extent when upstream reciprocity is considered (regardless of identification of the third party). On the other hand, when the benefactor is unidentified, levels of direct and upstream reciprocity remain similar. Moderated-mediation analysis suggests that ethical commitment associated with the universal norm of reciprocity explains the decrease in prosociality between reactions toward the benefactor himself or herself and toward a third party under the identified condition.
Owing to the importance of employee psychological well-being for a variety of work- and non-work-related outcomes, practitioners and scholars have begun to broaden the scope of workplace well-being interventions by incorporating principles from positive psychology. Among such positive interventions, gratitude exercises have arguably emerged as the "gold standard" practice, with much research pointing to their effectiveness. However, existing workplace interventions lack a true (i.e., no intervention) control group, and effects have been observed for some-but not all-outcomes tested. Therefore, the purpose of this brief report was to conduct a concise but methodologically rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of 2 positive psychology workplace interventions in improving employee affect, and to examine potential moderators of intervention effectiveness. Ninety-two employees in a large social services agency were assigned to (a) a gratitude intervention, (b) an intervention in which participants alternated between the gratitude activity and one involving increasing social connectedness, or (c) a wait list control condition, for 1 month. Neither intervention produced a main effect on any of the 3 affective outcomes measured. However, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and job tenure were significant moderators of intervention effectiveness. We discuss the implications of these preliminary results in an effort to advance the literature on workplace positive psychology interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record
We seek to help solve the puzzle of why top-level leaders are disproportionately white men. We suggest that this race-and sex-based status and power gap persists, in part, because ethnic minority and women leaders are discouraged from engaging in diversity-valuing behavior. We hypothesize and test in both field and laboratory samples that ethnic minority or female leaders who engage in diversity-valuing behavior are penalized with worse performance ratings; whereas white or male leaders who engage in diversity-valuing behavior are not penalized for doing so. We find that this divergent effect results from traditional negative race and sex stereotypes (i.e. lower competence judgments) placed upon diversity-valuing ethnic minority and women leaders. We discuss how our findings extend and enrich the vast literatures on the glass ceiling, tokenism, and workplace discrimination. Does diversity-valuing behavior result in diminished performance ratings for nonwhite and female leaders? ABSTRACT We seek to help solve the puzzle of why top-level leaders are disproportionately white men. We suggest that this race-and sex-based status and power gap persists, in part, because ethnic minority and women leaders are discouraged from engaging in diversity-valuing behavior. We hypothesize and test in both field and laboratory samples that ethnic minority or female leaders who engage in diversity-valuing behavior are penalized with worse performance ratings; whereas white or male leaders who engage in diversity-valuing behavior are not penalized for doing so. We find that this divergent effect results from traditional negative race and sex stereotypes (i.e. lower competence judgments) placed upon diversity-valuing ethnic minority and women leaders. We discuss how our findings extend and enrich the vast literatures on the glass ceiling, tokenism, and workplace discrimination. Women and nonwhites have made remarkable gains in the workplace in recent decades.
We present two studies investigating the impact of causal perceptions and the moral emotions of anger, shame, and guilt on the justification of deviant workplace behavior. Study 1 tests our conceptual framework using a sample of undergraduate business students; Study 2 examines a population of practicing physicians. Results varied significantly between the two samples, suggesting that individual and contextual factors play an important role in shaping the perceptual and emotional processes by which individuals form reactions to undesirable affective workplace events. Implications of these findings for the study of ethics, emotions, and attributions, as well as for promoting ethical behavior, are discussed.
Victims of workplace mobbing show diverse coping behavior. We investigated the impact of this behavior on bystander cognitions, emotions and helping toward the victim, integrating coping literature with attribution theory. Adult part-time university students (N = 161) working at various organizations participated in a study with a 3(Coping: approach/avoidance/neutral) x 2(Gender Victim: male/female) x 2(Gender Bystander: male/female) design. Victims showing approach (vs. avoidance) coping were considered to be more self-reliant and less responsible for the continuation of the mobbing, and elicited less anger. Continuation responsibility and self-reliance mediated the relationship between the victim's coping behavior and bystanders' helping intentions. Female (vs. male) participants reported more sympathy for the victim and reported greater willingness to help, and female (vs. male) victims elicited less anger. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
A model of workplace anger was developed and tested based on Affective Events Theory (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996). Two discrete workplace events, interpersonal incivility and unjust treatment, were predicted to trigger the experience of employee anger which was predicted to subsequently lead to the expression of anger which may be manifested outwardly, suppressed, or controlled. The expression of anger in the presence of different workplace constituencies (supervisor, coworkers, and subordinates) was also examined in the model Employees' dispositional tendency toward anger (trait anger) was examined as a moderator of these relationships and also, as having a direct effect on the outward expression of anger. Support was found for the conceptual linkages among work events, affective reactions and affective expressions as postulated by our model, as was partial support for trait anger having direct and moderating effects on employee anger.
The aim of this article is to conceptually delineate moral anger from other related constructs. Drawing upon social functional accounts of anger, we contend that distilling the finer nuances of morally motivated anger and its expression can increase the precision with which we examine prosocial forms of anger (e.g., redressing injustice), in general, and moral anger, in particular. Without this differentiation, we assert that (i) moral anger remains theoretically elusive, (ii) that this thwarts our ability to methodologically capture the unique variance moral anger can explain in important work outcomes, and that (iii) this can promote ill-informed organizational policies and practice. We offer a four-factor definition of moral anger and demonstrate the utility of this characterization as a distinct construct with application for workplace phenomena such as, but not limited to, whistle-blowing. Next, we outline a future research agenda, including how to operationalize the construct and address issues of construct, discriminant, and convergent validity. Finally, we argue for greater appreciation of anger's prosocial functions and concomitant understanding that many anger displays can be justified and lack harmful intent. If allowed and addressed with interest and concern, these emotional displays can lead to improved organizational practice.
Across five studies, we investigate the use of appeals to the moral emotion of sympathy in negotiations. We find that negotiators who actively appeal to the sympathy of their counterparts achieve improved outcomes, both in terms of distributive value claiming as well as integrative value creation. We also compare the effects of sympathy appeals to appeals based on rationality and fairness, and find that sympathy appeals are generally the most effective. These results, then, suggest that negotiators with certain sources of weakness may actually benefit from revealing their weakness, if doing so elicits sympathy in their counterparts. We also explore negotiator power as a possible boundary condition to sympathy appeals. Relative to low power negotiators, we find that high power negotiators' sympathy appeals are seen as more inappropriate and manipulative, and may damage the negotiators' relationship going forward.
The effect of a grateful outlook on psychological and physical well-being was examined. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental conditions (hassles, gratitude listing, and either neutral life events or social comparison); they then kept weekly (Study 1) or daily (Study 2) records of their moods, coping behaviors, health behaviors, physical symptoms, and overall life appraisals. In a 3rd study, persons with neuromuscular disease were randomly assigned to either the gratitude condition or to a control condition. The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits.
Understanding how morally responsible and irresponsible business actions lead to feelings of pride and shame can help us learn more about what motivates moral decision making. This study examines how these particular self-conscious emotions interact with two variables depicting a person's other-orientation, which is made up of other-directed values and perspective-taking. Through an experimental design, we unpack their conjoint influence on moral decisions that either promote the organization or repair the damage done to it. By doing so, we contribute to the existing literature by clarifying nuances between self-conscious and moral emotions, and by testing the specific influence of pride and shame on moral decision-making.
Individuals often attend meetings at work to which at least one person arrives late. Building from attributional theories of interpersonal behaviour, we conducted an experiment to determine the cognitive, affective, and behavioural components of people's reactions to meeting lateness. Participants read one of eight experimental vignettes that described someone arriving 5 or 15 min late to an important or unimportant meeting, after which the person who arrived late offered either a controllable or an uncontrollable reason for being late. Participants reported greater anger and a willingness to punish the late arrival who gave a controllable excuse, whereas sympathy and prosocial intentions followed the late arrival who gave an uncontrollable excuse. To establish generalizability, we replicated the results using a survey of workers who reported on their thoughts and experiences in their last meeting to which someone arrived late. Overall, our findings also indicated that accounting for the severity of the transgression uniquely contributed to emotional and behaviour reactions, which is an improvement on existing attributional models.
Practitioner points
• Arriving late to workplace meetings can have negative effects on interpersonal relationships, despite the prevalence of the behaviour.
• Organizations and managers should encourage all meeting attendees to arrive to meetings on time – this avoids the negative effects of lateness and also sets the stage for positive meeting interactions.
• Managers can take steps to mitigate the effects of lateness if it occurs. Agendas should be flexible to allow the movement of discussion points if someone arrives late.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate a newly developed brief, cost-effective, flexible, and broadly accessible online programme designed to enhance employee well-being. Considering the demands of the working world, the development of the positive intervention (PI) programme was based on empirical findings and latest theoretical advances from the field of positive psychology, namely the PERMA model of well-being. The new PERMA-based programme’s effectiveness to increase employee well-being was evaluated with a longitudinal field experiment, including a wait list control group and an already established PI programme (i.e., gratitude programme) for comparison (three-armed randomized controlled trial; n = 303, Nmale = 99, Nfemale = 203, Mage = 41.16, SD = 12.26). Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) supported that on average, participants of the gratitude programme and the PERMA-based programme reported significant increases in employee well-being after the intervention, as compared to no increases in the wait list control group. The significant increases yielded small effect sizes for general subjective well-being and medium effect sizes for work-related subjective well-being. Post-hoc analyses controlling for baseline well-being also supported the efficacy of the PIs. Contrary to the prediction of the PERMA-based programme’s superiority, participants of both online PI programmes reported similar gains in employee well-being components. Practical implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.
The purpose of this study is to investigate how consumers respond to meaningful advertisements, which promote products or brands by portraying moral virtues and life meaning. The authors present findings of an online survey in which participants reported their responses to two meaningful advertisements. A conceptual model was proposed and tested based on the survey data. Results demonstrated that when viewing meaningful advertisements participants' perceptions of meaningfulness positively influenced their feelings of elevation, which leaded to favorable attitudes towards the advertisement and brand. Empathy served as a moderator in the conceptual model. Participants who felt low empathy actually experienced stronger feelings of elevation. This study presents how consumers respond to portrayals of moral virtues and life meaning in advertisements. It contributes to the literature of advertising by demonstrating that the emotion of elevation benefits advertising effectiveness. It has significant implications to advertising professionals as well.
Reviews the major controversy concerning psychobiological universality of differential emotion patterning vs cultural relativity of emotional experience. Data from a series of cross-cultural questionnaire studies in 37 countries on 5 continents are reported and used to evaluate the respective claims of the proponents in the debate. Results show highly significant main effects and strong effect sizes for the response differences across 7 major emotions (joy, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, shame, and guilt). Profiles of cross-culturally stable differences among the emotions with respect to subjective feeling, physiological symptoms, and expressive behavior are also reported. The empirical evidence is interpreted as supporting theories that postulate both a high degree of universality of differential emotion patterning and important cultural differences in emotion elicitation, regulation, symbolic representation, and social sharing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
We demonstrate that incidental emotions (e.g. anger stemming from an argument with your spouse) influence trust in unrelated settings (e.g. the likelihood of trusting a co-worker). Incidental happiness and gratitude increase trust, and incidental anger decreases trust. Other-person control appraisals mediate this relationship, and trustee familiarity moderates this relationship.
This study investigates the origins of discrete interpersonal emotions in team-member dyads using two independent samples from an education institute and a telecommunication services company in China. Results across both studies showed that the quality of team members’ dyadic relationships positively relates to interpersonal admiration, sympathy, and envy, and negatively relates to interpersonal contempt. Furthermore, teams’ cooperative goals moderate these dyad-level linkages. The association of relationship quality with interpersonal emotions is particularly pronounced in teams with less cooperative goals but buffered in teams with more cooperative goals. Finally, on the individual level of analysis, envy and contempt are inversely associated with team members’ work performance, objectively measured. These findings provide new insights about key antecedents and crucial moderators in the development of interpersonal emotions in Chinese work teams and reiterate the relevance of these emotions for tangible performance outcomes.
Workplace helping is essential to the success of organizations and economies. Given the economic benefits of helping, it seems important that during difficult economic periods the amount of helping does not decline. In this research, we propose and show that it does. We argue that cues that signal the economy is performing poorly prompt a construal that the success of one person implies less success for others. This zero-sum construal of success in turn makes employees less inclined to help. Four studies found evidence consistent with our theory. Study 1 found that worse economic periods are associated with a more zero-sum construal of success using data from 59,694 respondents surveyed across 51 countries and 17 years and objective indicators of their macroeconomic environments. Studies 2 and 3 were experiments among employees of U.S. organizations that found an induced perception that the U.S. economy was performing poorly led to a more zero-sum construal of success and made employees less inclined to help. Study 4 was an unobtrusive experiment among freelance professionals from 47 countries that found that participants' perception that the economy in their country was in a downturn was associated with a more zero-sum construal of success and less helping behavior. This research demonstrates the importance of bridging the macro-micro divide in organizational sciences and considering the impact of macroeconomic changes on individual employee psychology and behavior.
This article presents a cognitive model of empowerment. Here, empowerment is defined as increased intrinsic task motivation, and our subsequent model identifies four cognitions (task assessments) as the basis for worker empowerment: sense of impact, competence, meaningfulness, and choice. Adopting an interpretive perspective, we have used the model also to describe cognitive processes through which workers reach these conclusions. Central to the processes we describe are workers' interpretive styles and global beliefs. Both preliminary evidence for the model and general implications for research are discussed.
Employee anger can be suppressed or quieted so that angry individuals only vent frustrations to supportive colleagues, rather than approach those responsible or in an organizational position to help remedy the problematic situation. The Dual Threshold Model (Geddes & Callister,) argues that although these "muted anger" venting episodes may increase unfavorable organizational outcomes, they also may prompt participants or observers of these displays to engage in advocacy or surrogacy on behalf of an angry colleague. The research reported here empirically tests this proposition and reports that advocating on behalf of one's angry colleague can enhance individual relationships at work as well as organizational functioning. Findings also show that observer felt anger intensity is a primary motivator for prompting anger advocacy and, surprisingly, advocacy is less likely on behalf of close colleagues. © 2016 International Association for Conflict Management and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
In this paper we explore how emotions influence organizations in situations of institutional complexity. In particular we study members’ and leaders’ emotive responses and influence activities in response to a disruptive event that led to a violation of expectations. Our findings show that when people’s expectations of an organization’s actions are violated it can trigger a process of emotional escalation that leads to the destabilization of the organization through the emotional-laden influence activities of shaming and shunning. The violation in our case resulted in strong negative emotions expressed on Facebook. Facebook acted as an emotional echo chamber where negative emotions were amplified and led to members’ emotion-driven influence activities eventually triggering regret and adaptation by the organization. We discuss implications for the study of emotions in institutional dynamics.
describe the key phenomenological differences between shame and guilt / review the extant theoretical and empirical literature relating shame and guilt to depression / describe results from several independent studies bearing on the relationship of shame and guilt to depression
study 1 demonstrates that the states of shame, guilt, and depression represent distinct phenomenological experiences / studies 2 and 3, however, indicate that a dispositional tendency to experience shame, but not guilt, is an important correlate of depressive symptomatology, above and beyond that accounted for by attributional style / [subjects were aged 17–64 years] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In this exploratory paper, we investigate the extension of Haidt’s (Psychol Rev 108(4):814–834, 2001, The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion, 2012) Moral foundations theory (MFT), operationalized as the MFQ30 questionnaire, from a sample of the general public across many countries to a sample of business students. MFT posits that people rely on five major concerns, or foundations, when making moral judgments. The five concerns are care/harm, fairness/cheating, loyalty/betrayal, respect/authority, and purity/degradation. In addition, Haidt suggests that intuition, rather than reasoning, leads to moral judgment. We replicate Haidt’s measurement model and find that the measurement model based on our sample is consistent. This indicates support for MFT. Further, we find structural differences in the measurement model between the genders and between areas of study. Our findings suggest that all students in the sample focus substantially on the fairness foundation. Ethics education and research may seek to expand the number of moral foundations individuals consider when discerning whether something is right or wrong.
The long-term consequences of early prefrontal cortex lesions occurring before 16 months were investigated in two adults. As is the case when such damage occurs in adulthood, the two early-onset patients had severely impaired social behavior despite normal basic cognitive abilities, and showed insensitivity to future consequences of decisions, defective autonomic responses to punishment contingencies and failure to respond to behavioral interventions. Unlike adult-onset patients, however, the two patients had defective social and moral reasoning, suggesting that the acquisition of complex social conventions and moral rules had been impaired. Thus early-onset prefrontal damage resulted in a syndrome resembling psychopathy.
This study examines workplace respect as an important condition that promotes increases in perceived organizational embeddedness. I especially focus on young, educated employees’ perceptions of organizational embeddedness, as these employees strongly desire being respected and valued. Guided by social exchange theory, I propose that increases in perceived respect promote increases in gratitude toward the organization, which in turn promote increases in perceived organizational embeddedness over time. Increases in perceived organizational embeddedness are in turn related to lower turnover. Data collected from a young, college-graduate sample (average age = 25) at five points over an 18-month period demonstrated that (a) within-person increases in perceived respect were associated with within-person increases in gratitude over 12 months, (b) within-person increases in gratitude were associated with within-person increases in perceived organizational embeddedness over 12 months, and (c) employees who reported greater increases in perceived organizational embeddedness over 12 months were less likely to leave their organizations six months afterward. In summary, this study illustrates that even workers in the early stages of their careers can feel increasingly embedded in their organizations when they feel increasingly respected by their colleagues. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Research has not adequately separated the factors responsible for prosocial behaviors intended to benefit specific individuals from those intended to benefit an organization. Antecedents of the behavior of 100 secretaries were examined as a function of the beneficiary of the behavior. The value of concern for others and empathy explained significant variance in prosocial behaviors directed only at specific individuals (prosocial individual behavior). Perceptions of reward equity and recognition explained significant variance in behaviors directed only at the organization (prosocial organizational behavior). With these effects removed, the relationship between job satisfaction and prosocial organizational behavior was no longer significant, whereas the relationship between job satisfaction and prosocial individual behavior remained significant. Results suggest that the psychological processes that underlie prosocial behavior are different depending on the beneficiary of the behavior.