Judging unethical behavior: the different effects of external and public service motivation

Ripoll, Guillem; Ballart, Xavier

doi:10.1080/10967494.2019.1588811

“…Past research has explained the role of ethical leadership, financial stress, job insecurity and basic psychological needs satisfaction in directly shaping PSM and indirectly decreasing unethical judgement and intention (Ripoll and Ballart, 2019; Ripoll and Breaugh, 2019; Wright et al., 2016). However, there is a need to underscore the effect of other job interventions like goal clarity.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, it is suggested that PSM (being a moral identity) enables individuals to consistently regulate their ethical behaviours and attitudes in line with the ethical frameworks (norms, values and rules) internalized from the public institution (Ripoll, 2019; Ripoll and Breaugh, 2019). However, there is a need to confirm these arguments by using different professional sectors and organizations (Ripoll and Ballart, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some of these concepts, such as economic stress, ethical leadership or basic needs satisfaction, have also been used to explain their indirect impact on reducing unethical judgement and intention by eliciting PSM (e.g. Ripoll and Ballart, 2019; Ripoll and Breaugh, 2019; Wright et al., 2016). However, more work is still needed to examine how other organizational antecedents relate to PSM’s ethical consequences (Ripoll and Breaugh, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

In charge of safeguarding the public interest: the role of goal clarity in shaping public service motivation and the acceptance of unethical behaviours

Ripoll

¹

2019

International Review of Administrative Sciences

Self Cite

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Ethics are important for personal, organizational and societal development. Although the literature has isolated some remedies and causes of unethical attitudes and behaviours, there is a still a need for further research. When focusing on the public context, it has been suggested that the motivation to serve the public interest has a negative relationship with different unethical outcomes. Thus, one interesting avenue of research is to explain how public service motivation can be enhanced by the outcome of certain managerial practices, which may also lead to ethical benefits indirectly. Using data collected from social workers in Catalonia (Spain), this article confirms that goal clarity directly increases the levels of public service motivation and indirectly reduces the acceptance of unethical behaviours by eliciting public service motivation. Research and practical implications of the findings are discussed. Points for practitioners This study highlights the importance of public service-oriented institutional contexts in indirectly shaping unethical outcomes. The findings recommend to public managers and practitioners to provide goal clarity (through certain human-resource management practices such as appraisal or job design) because it increases public service motivation and indirectly reduces the acceptance of unethical behaviour.

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“…Adequate pretests of the treatment stimuli were conducted before the experiment was rolled out (Wilson & While, 1998). Prior studies on corruption-related issues using similar (quasi-)experimental study designs and vignette-based framing stimuli found small to medium-sized effects (see, e.g., Weißmüller et al (2020) or Ripoll and Ballart (2020)). In the prospect of small to mediumsized effects (Cohen's d ≤ 0.3; power = 0.8; α = 0.05), samples should comprise at least n = 176 respondents (Ellis, 2010), which has been achieved for each sample.…”

Section: And Ramdani and Vanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weißmüller & DeWaele (2021) - Would you Bribe your Lecturer? A Quasi-experimental Study on Burnout and Bribery in Higher Education

Weißmüller¹,

Waele²

2021

Preprint

0

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Bribery is a complex and critical issue in higher education (HE), causing severe economic and societal harm. Traditionally, most scholarship on HE corruption has focused on institutional factors in developing countries and insights into the psychological and motivational factors that drive HE bribery on the micro-level mechanisms are virtually non-existent. To close this research gap, this study investigates the connection between study-related burnout and university students’ willingness to offer bribes to their lecturers to pass important exams. Conducting a vignette-based quasi-experimental replication study with 624 university students in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands we find that university students in three countries differentiate sharply between different shades of bribery and that a majority accept using emotional influence tactics to pass (failed) exams. In contrast, offering a helping hand or money (i.e., darker shades of bribery) to their lecturer was less acceptable. Study-related burnout is associated with a higher likelihood of engaging in these darker shades of bribery and students’ commitment to the public interest is but a weak factor in preventing unethical behavior. In summary, this study provides solid empirical evidence that university students are likely to use emotional influence tactics violating both the ethical codes of conduct and the formalized bureaucratic procedures of HE examination, particularly if they suffer from study-related burnout. However, the accelerating effect of burnout on bribery is conditional in that it only holds for darker shades of bribery. HE institutions may benefit from implementing the four-eye principle and from launching awareness campaigns that enable lecturers to better recognize these tactics and engage students in creating a transparent environment for testing, grading, and collaboration that is resistant to bribery.

show abstract

“…Adequate pretests of the treatment stimuli were conducted before the experiment was rolled out (Wilson & While, 1998). Prior studies on corruption-related issues using similar (quasi-)experimental study designs and vignette-based framing stimuli found small to medium-sized effects, see, e.g., Weißmüller et al (2020) or Ripoll and Ballart (2020). In the prospect of small to medium-sized effects (Cohen's d ≤ 0.3; power = 0.8; α = 0.05), samples should comprise at least n = 176 respondents (Ellis, 2010), which has been achieved for each sample.…”

Section: Quasi-experimental Research Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Would you Bribe your Lecturer? A Quasi-experimental Study on Burnout and Bribery in Higher Education

Weißmüller

¹

,

Waele

²

2021

Res High Educ

1

0

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Bribery is a complex and critical issue in higher education (HE), causing severe economic and societal harm. Traditionally, most scholarship on HE corruption has focused on institutional factors in developing countries and insights into the psychological and motivational factors that drive HE bribery on the micro-level mechanisms are virtually non-existent. To close this research gap, this study investigates the connection between study-related burnout and university students’ willingness to offer bribes to their lecturers to pass important exams. Conducting a vignette-based quasi-experimental replication study with 624 university students in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands we find that university students in three countries differentiate sharply between different shades of bribery and that a majority accept using emotional influence tactics to pass (failed) exams. In contrast, offering a helping hand or money (i.e., darker shades of bribery) to their lecturer was less acceptable. Study-related burnout is associated with a higher likelihood of engaging in these darker shades of bribery and students’ commitment to the public interest is but a weak factor in preventing unethical behavior. In summary, this study provides solid empirical evidence that university students are likely to use emotional influence tactics violating both the ethical codes of conduct and the formalized bureaucratic procedures of HE examination, particularly if they suffer from study-related burnout. However, the accelerating effect of burnout on bribery is conditional in that it only holds for darker shades of bribery. HE institutions may benefit from implementing the four-eye principle and from launching awareness campaigns that enable lecturers to better recognize these tactics and engage students in creating a transparent environment for testing, grading, and collaboration that is resistant to bribery.

show abstract

Judging unethical behavior: the different effects of external and public service motivation

Cited by 25 publications

References 65 publications

In charge of safeguarding the public interest: the role of goal clarity in shaping public service motivation and the acceptance of unethical behaviours

In charge of safeguarding the public interest: the role of goal clarity in shaping public service motivation and the acceptance of unethical behaviours

Weißmüller & DeWaele (2021) - Would you Bribe your Lecturer? A Quasi-experimental Study on Burnout and Bribery in Higher Education

Would you Bribe your Lecturer? A Quasi-experimental Study on Burnout and Bribery in Higher Education

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Judging unethical behavior: the different effects of external and public service motivation

Cited by 25 publications

References 65 publications

In charge of safeguarding the public interest: the role of goal clarity in shaping public service motivation and the acceptance of unethical behaviours

In charge of safeguarding the public interest: the role of goal clarity in shaping public service motivation and the acceptance of unethical behaviours

Weißmüller &amp; DeWaele (2021) - Would you Bribe your Lecturer? A Quasi-experimental Study on Burnout and Bribery in Higher Education

Would you Bribe your Lecturer? A Quasi-experimental Study on Burnout and Bribery in Higher Education

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Weißmüller & DeWaele (2021) - Would you Bribe your Lecturer? A Quasi-experimental Study on Burnout and Bribery in Higher Education