Abstract
The self-interest paradigm predicts that unethical behavior occurs when such behavior benefits the actor. A recent model of lying behavior, however, predicts that lying behavior results from an individual's inability to meet conflicting role demands. The need to reconcile the self-interest and role conflict theories prompted the present study, which orthogonally manipulated the benefit from lying and the conflicting role demands. A model integrating the two theories predicts the results, which showed that both elements — self benefit and role conflict — influenced lying, separately and interactively. Additionally, the relative strength of the roles in conflict affected their level of influence. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
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Steven L. Grover is currently an assistant professor of management at the Indiana University School of Business. His central research interest concerns honesty and dishonesty in organizations, and his research has appeared in journals such as theAcademy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decisions Processes, andOrganization Science.
Chun Hui is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Management at Indiana University at Bloomington. Besides his research interests in organizational ethics such as lying behaviors, Chun is also interested in issues related to organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), trust in leaders, instability in predictive validities, and wrongful discrimination.
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Grover, S.L., Hui, C. The influence of role conflict and self-interest on lying in organizations. J Bus Ethics 13, 295–303 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00871676
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00871676