Depletion,moral identity,and unethical behavior: Why people behave unethically after self-control exertion |
| |
Institution: | 1. Insper Institute of Education and Research, Brazil;2. University of São Paulo – FEA/USP, Department of Accounting and Actuarial Science, Brazil;1. Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Universitätsstraße 7, A-1010 Vienna, Austria;2. Department of Psychology and Management, International School of Management Dortmund, Otto-Hahn-Straße 19, D-44227 Dortmund, Germany |
| |
Abstract: | Self-control enables people to resist short-term temptations in the service of long-term goals. Previous exertion of self-control leads to a state of ego depletion. Three studies demonstrated that ego depletion leads to a high level of unethical behavior. These studies also hypothesized and confirmed that depleted individuals behave unethically because of low moral identity. Study 1 found that depleted participants were more likely to over-report their performance than non-depleted participants. Study 2 revealed that depletion reduced people’s moral identity, which in turn increased their propensity to engage in unethical behavior. Study 3 proved that priming moral identity eliminated the effect of depletion on cheating. Findings suggest that reduced moral identity accounts for the effect of self-control depletion on unethical behavior. |
| |
Keywords: | Self-control Ego deletion Unethical behavior Moral identity Priming |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|