Workers' Moral Mum Effect: On Facework and Unethical Behavior in the Workplace

Bisel, Ryan S.; Kelley, Katherine M.; Ploeger, Nicole A.; Messersmith, Jake G.

doi:10.1080/10510974.2010.551314

Cited by 34 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In this study, we intend to test the effects of personality traits of individuals on their intention formation under hypothetical conditions of substantial social pressure. When a subordinate is faced with an unethical request, non-compliance might lead to threatening actions (Bisel, Kelley, Ploeger, & Messersmith, 2011). In the face of threats, the subordinate may cognitively restructure the request to minimize the ethical content (cf.…”

Section: Personality Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The “Big Five Personality Traits” and Accountants’ Ethical Intention Formation

Saadullah¹,

Bailey²

2014

Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting

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Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:198285 [] For AuthorsIf you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services. ABSTRACTFrom an online survey of 114 participating accountants at staff, senior staff, and supervisor levels from a top-100 U.S. accounting firm, we investigate the effects of the Big Five personality traits (Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Openness) on the ethical decision-making process of accountants. Within the framework of Rest's (1986) Four-Component Model of Ethical Behavior, we focus on Component III, the formation of an intention to act upon one's best ethical judgment. Based on the limited extant literature on the connection between personality and ethical behavior, we expect that accountants high in Conscientiousness and Openness will tend to form an intention to act ethically despite pressure in an ethical dilemma. We develop more tentative hypotheses about the remaining three factors. Controlling for age, gender, education, sole earning status, and experience, we find clear positive statistical effects of only Conscientiousness and Openness. These findings have implications for the human resource departments of accounting firms, as well as contributing to a basic understanding of the relationships between Big Five personality factors and ethical intention.

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Section: Personality Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The “Big Five Personality Traits” and Accountants’ Ethical Intention Formation

Saadullah¹,

Bailey²

2014

Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting

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“…Many of these workers drew upon the identities invited by the organizational hierarchy to make sense of their communication strategy of silence. These findings provide further evidence that relational dynamics codified in hierarchies alter workplace messaging-at times, in ways that are ultimately detrimental to individuals and collectives alike (Bisel, Kelley, Ploeger, & Messersmith, 2011;Kassing, 2006;.…”

Section: Hierarchiesmentioning

confidence: 65%

An Increasing Usefulness for Managerial Communication Research on the Main Topics of Management

Bell

Roebuck

2015

SSRN Journal

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Effective communication is necessary across all management tiers and functions. In addition, it is an integral part of managerial decision-making. Over the last 10 years, interest in the nuances of communication as related to management has intensified. These studies have fostered diverse approaches to linking management and communication. Our investigation, using 2x5 and 2x4 factorial ANOVAs, reveals that differences exist among the means of five professional communication fields. Numerous articles published between 2004 and 2013 were examined, and we found an increasing usefulness for managerial communication research on the main topic of management.

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“…The mum effect was further studied by Bisel, Kelley, Ploeger, and Messersmith (2011) in an examination of research participants' willingness to justify, or deny, making immoral decisions in the workplace. In their study, Bisel et al presented subordinates and supervisors with morally questionable scenarios.…”

Section: Moral Mum Effectmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Workplace bullying, over an extended period of time, negatively affects the subordinate's relationship with the supervisor (Glasø, Nielsen, & Einarsen, 2009;MacIntosh, 2005), harms teamwork (Baillien, Neyens, DeWitte, & De Cuyper, 2009;Gardner & Johnson, 2001), reduces morale, reduced creativity, lower productivity (Baruch, 2005;Bilgel, Aytac, & Bayram, 2006;Hauge, Skogstad et al, 2010;Namie, 2003;Quine, 2003), and decreases commitment to the organization (Gardner & Johnson), all of which have significant consequences to organizational culture. Bisel et al (2011) in stating "females, younger workers, and those with the least work experience are most indirect in denying an unethical request," demonstrate an interesting caveat (p. 465). Older subordinates, with more work experience, may be more likely to possess the workplace self-identity and self-esteem necessary to speak out against a tyrannical supervisor as would a junior subordinate with less work experience.…”

Section: Whistleblowingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supervisor-Subordinate Communication: Workplace Bullying and the Tyrannical Mum Effect

Beakley¹

2016

IJBM

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Real, or perceived, workplace bullying exhibited by a supervisor against a subordinate may condition a subordinate to withhold disagreement, or communication of contrarian information, from the supervisor. Existing research and literature demonstrate the mum effect and its influence on communicators given generally neutral associations with message recipients. The mum effect is the tendency for communicators to feel a sense of guilt and association with bad news delivered to a message recipient. Given an alternative, communicators prefer to remain mum than to deliver the bad news. However, research of the mum effect has minimally explored divergent conditions. Through an exploration of workplace bullying, whistleblowing, and existing literature regarding the mum effect, the author presents a divergent theme to the hierarchical mum effect which the author labels the tyrannical mum effect. The tyrannical mum effect is established under the framework of seven propositions which provide the foundation by which a supervisor exhibits workplace hostility to subordinates, subordinate interpretation of the hostility, and the willingness of the subordinate to communicate disagreement in a hostile work environment. The seven propositions of the tyrannical mum effect provide opportunity for future research.

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Workers' Moral Mum Effect: On Facework and Unethical Behavior in the Workplace

Cited by 34 publications

References 17 publications

The “Big Five Personality Traits” and Accountants’ Ethical Intention Formation

The “Big Five Personality Traits” and Accountants’ Ethical Intention Formation

An Increasing Usefulness for Managerial Communication Research on the Main Topics of Management

Supervisor-Subordinate Communication: Workplace Bullying and the Tyrannical Mum Effect

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