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  5. Hypocrisy by Association: When Organizational Membership Increases Condemnation for Wrongdoing

Hypocrisy by Association: When Organizational Membership Increases Condemnation for Wrongdoing

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Lucas13_HypocrisyByAssociation.pdf (672.57 KB)
Permanent Link(s)
https://hdl.handle.net/1813/111224
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ILR Articles and Chapters
Faculty Publications - Organizational Behavior
Author
Effron, Daniel
Lucas, Brian
O'Connor, Keiran
Abstract

Hypocrisy occurs when people fail to practice what they preach. Four experiments document the hypocrisy-by-association effect, whereby failing to practice what an organization preaches can make an employee seem hypocritical and invite moral condemnation. Participants judged employees more harshly for the same transgression when it was inconsistent with ethical values the employees’ organization promoted, and ascriptions of hypocrisy mediated this effect (Studies 1–3). The results did not sup- port the possibility that inconsistent transgressions simply seemed more harmful. In Study 4, participants were less likely to select a job candidate whose transgression did (vs. did not) contradict a value promoted by an organization where he had once interned. The results suggest that employees are seen as morally obligated to uphold the values that their organization promotes, even by people outside of the organization. We discuss how observers will judge someone against different ethical standards depending on where she or he works.

Date Issued
2015-09
Publisher
Elsevier
Keywords
hypocrisy
•
moral judgement
•
condemnation
•
punishment
•
behavioral integrity
•
consistency
Related DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2015.05.001
Previously Published as
Effron, D. A., Lucas, B. J., & O'Connor, K. (2015). Hypocrisy by association: When organizational membership increases condemnation for wrongdoing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 130, pp. 147-159.
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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article
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