Blame the shepherd not the sheep: Imitating higher-ranking transgressors mitigates punishment for unethical behavior

Bauman, Christopher W.; Tost, Leigh Plunkett; Ong, Madeline

doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.08.006

Cited by 33 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…Some studies indicate that misbehavior or uncivil behaviors displayed by high‐ (vs. low‐) ranking perpetrators can be viewed more negatively, perceived to be more unjust, and are associated with lower lenience and higher propensity to punish (Bowles & Gelfand, ; Caza & Cortina, ; Cortina & Magley, ; Pearson et al, ). Such a pattern would be consistent with the view that people expect high‐ranking individuals to set an example for others (Bauman, Tost, & Ong, ). However, other studies indicate that uncivil behavior displayed by high‐ (vs. low‐) ranking perpetrators is also seen as more legitimate (Chekroun & Brauer, ; Porath et al, ), and high‐ranking perpetrators are evaluated more positively than low‐ranking perpetrators as long as their transgressions are not seen to reflect self‐interest (Abrams, Randsley de Moura, & Travaglino, ).…”

Section: How Norms May Affect People's Reactions To High‐ and Low‐ransupporting

confidence: 84%

Cultural variation in individuals' responses to incivility by perpetrators of different rank: The mediating role of descriptive and injunctive norms

Moon

Weick

Üskül

2017

Euro J Social Psych

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The present research sought to establish how cultural settings create a normative context that determines individuals' reactions to subtle forms of mistreatment. Two experimental studies (n = 449) examined individuals' perceptions of high‐ and low‐ranking individuals' incivility in two national (Study 1) and two organizational (Study 2) cultural settings that varied in power distance. Consistent across studies, the uncivil actions of a high‐ranking perpetrator were deemed more acceptable than the uncivil actions of a low‐ranking perpetrator in the large power distance cultural settings, but not in the small power distance cultural settings. Differing injunctive norms (acceptability), but not descriptive norms (perceived likelihood of occurrence), contributed to cultural variations in the level of discomfort caused by incivility. In addition, perceptions of descriptive and injunctive norms coincided, but differed markedly in their associations with discomfort. We discuss the practical and theoretical implications of these findings.

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Section: How Norms May Affect People's Reactions To High‐ and Low‐ransupporting

confidence: 84%

Cultural variation in individuals' responses to incivility by perpetrators of different rank: The mediating role of descriptive and injunctive norms

Moon

Weick

Üskül

2017

Euro J Social Psych

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“…While the experimental method used in Study 1c is helpful in that it allows us to build a causal argument, it is limited because participants responded to the vignettes according to their lay theories about how issues should be framed. Therefore, it is possible that this study tells us more about how people think they 2 The one participant was excluded because s/he spent less than 1/10th of the average time (Mean ϭ 13.75 m) to complete the study (criteria used by Bauman, Tost, & Ong, 2016). Including this participant in our analyses did not change the direction or significance of our results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

The money or the morals? When moral language is more effective for selling social issues.

Mayer

Ong

Sonenshein

et al. 2019

Journal of Applied Psychology

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We examine the effectiveness of economic and moral language used by employees when selling social issues to management. In contrast to prior work finding that employees believe it is best to use economic language to influence management to address social issues, we draw on the issue selling, persuasion, and behavioral ethics literatures to demonstrate that moral language is actually most influential-especially when the language is framed to align with the organization's values and/or mission. The results from a combination of 3 field survey studies and 1 experimental vignette study provide support for this hypothesis. In addition, we find support for obligation (i.e., manager's anticipated guilt), rather than inspiration (i.e., manager's prosocial motivation), as a mediator of this interactive effect. We discuss implications for literatures on issue selling, persuasion, and behavioral ethics.

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“…Research conducted in the United States and the Netherlands suggests that after a norm violation, negative emotions increase, but so do perceptions of the power of the transgressor (Stamkou, van Kleef, Homan, & Galinsky, ). Moreover, U.S. research shows that in an organizational context, norm violations committed by low‐ranking individuals are tolerated if this behavior is the result of imitating a high‐status norm‐violating role model (Bauman, Tost, & Ong, ). One study reports cultural variation in responses to incivility such that Korean participants experienced more discomfort compared to British participants when both imagined interacting with someone displaying uncivil behaviors.…”

Section: Negotiation and Conflict Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Normatively Speaking: Do Cultural Norms Influence Negotiation, Conflict Management, and Communication?

Marin

Olekalns²,

Adair

2019

Negotiation Conflict Man Res

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This paper elaborates a research agenda on cultural norms in communication, negotiation, and conflict management. Our agenda is organized around five questions on negotiation and conflict management, for example: How do culture and norms relate to an individual's propensity to negotiate? Or How do tightness-looseness norms explain negotiators' reactions to norm conformity and norm violation? And three questions on communication, for example: What individual and cultural factors lead negotiators to use miscommunication as an opportunity rather than an obstacle? Or Are there cultural differences in whether and what forms of schmoozing are normative? The present paper is based on three pillars: (a) ideas provided by the think tank participants (full list on website), (b) state of the art research and (c) the authors' perspectives. Our goal is to inspire young, as well as, established researchers to purse these research streams and increase our understanding about the influence of cultural norms.

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Blame the shepherd not the sheep: Imitating higher-ranking transgressors mitigates punishment for unethical behavior

Cited by 33 publications

References 80 publications

Cultural variation in individuals' responses to incivility by perpetrators of different rank: The mediating role of descriptive and injunctive norms

Cultural variation in individuals' responses to incivility by perpetrators of different rank: The mediating role of descriptive and injunctive norms

The money or the morals? When moral language is more effective for selling social issues.

Normatively Speaking: Do Cultural Norms Influence Negotiation, Conflict Management, and Communication?

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