What About My Occupation? A Multidimensional View of Workplace Identification and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior
Organizational Wrongdoing as the “Foundational” Grand Challenge: Definitions and Antecedents
ISBN: 978-1-83753-279-7, eISBN: 978-1-83753-278-0
Publication date: 24 July 2023
Abstract
Focusing on the individual unit of analysis, we explore how workplace identification can explain why individuals engage in unethical behavior that benefits an organization (unethical pro-organizational behavior; UPB). Social identity theory (SIT) stipulates that we want membership within high status organizations and, at extreme levels, may put the organization’s needs above all else. In taking a holistic approach to identification, we investigated how a strong occupational identification can mitigate this desire to unethically help an organization; occupations are a separate identity source and contain codes of conduct that guide ethical behavior. Utilizing a sample of 236 accountants and financial professionals, results indicated that organizational identification and occupational identification alone did not significantly predict UPB, however, the interaction of these identities did. More specifically, organizational identification significantly positively predicted UPB only when occupational identification was extremely low in strength. This effect was found after controlling for relevant personality and cognitive mechanisms related to unethical behavior. Implications for a multidimensional identification view of unethical behavior are discussed.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgment
This research is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
Citation
Coppins, T. and Weststar, J. (2023), "What About My Occupation? A Multidimensional View of Workplace Identification and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior", Gabbioneta, C., Clemente, M. and Greenwood, R. (Ed.) Organizational Wrongdoing as the “Foundational” Grand Challenge: Definitions and Antecedents (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 84), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 153-170. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20230000084008
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023 Trevor Coppins and Johanna Weststar