When Employees Do Bad Things for Good Reasons: Examining Unethical Pro-Organizational Behaviors

Abstract

We propose that employees sometimes engage in unethical acts with the intent to benefit their organization, its members, or both—a construct we term unethical pro-organizational behavior. We suggest that positive social exchange relationships and organizational identification may lead to unethical pro-organizational behavior indirectly via neutralization, the process by which the moral content of unethical actions is overlooked. We incorporate situational and individual-level constructs as moderators of these relationships and consider managerial implications and future research.