Engaging in Unethical Workplace Behaviour Can Trigger Paranoia and Undermine Coworker Relationships
Despite important efforts to eradicate unethical behaviour from the workplace, such behaviour remains very common. Indeed, studies have found that even “ordinary” employees who generally value morality may be tempted to falsify timesheets or inflate production numbers when they have an opportunity to advance their own interests. Given the pervasiveness of such self-interested unethical workplace behaviour, it is critical to understand its consequences. However, whereas the financial costs of unethical workplace behaviour are widely recognized, the potential personal and social costs of engaging in unethical workplace behaviour are poorly understood.
To develop a better understanding of how engaging in unethical workplace behaviour can impact employees and their social relationships at work, we recently conducted a series of four studies – a behavioural study in a controlled environment, a recall experiment, a field survey in a single organization, and a two-wave survey. Consistent with our hypotheses, our findings consistently indicated that self-interested unethical behaviour may have negative repercussions for the individual engaging in the behaviour by prompting state paranoia – an aversive psychological state characterized by a heightened tendency to perceive other people as threatening. We propose that this psychological state is likely to emerge in the aftermath of engaging in unethical behaviour as individuals recognize that their own behaviour runs counter to widely shared social norms and is likely to be unacceptable to other people.
In addition, our findings indicated that unethical workplace behaviour not only has negative consequences for the individual engaging in the behaviour (i.e., by prompting paranoia) but may also undermine social relationships in the workplace. Specifically, individuals experiencing a state of paranoia as a result of their own unethical workplace behaviour were less inclined to engage in affiliative (e.g., helping) behaviour directed at their coworkers. Ironically, failing to engage in affiliative behaviour toward coworkers has previously been shown to negatively impact individuals’ performance ratings and promotion opportunities. Thus, the very behaviour that employees may use to “get ahead” (i.e., self-interested unethical behaviour) may detract from the behaviour that is likely to achieve this goals (i.e., affiliative behaviour). Moreover, reduced affiliative behaviour may also undermine the success of one’s coworkers by limiting the amount of help and social support that they receive.
In summary, while employees often engage in self-interested unethical behaviour to advantage themselves, such behaviour can result in harmful outcomes for employees and their coworkers. These findings underscore the importance of preventative efforts aimed at curtailing unethical behaviour in organizations and carefully managing its individual and social implications when such behaviour does occur.
To learn more, see the full article:
Hillebrandt, A., Brady, D. L., Saldanha, M. F., & Barclay, L. J. (2022). The paradox of paranoia: How one’s own self-interested unethical behaviour can spark paranoia and reduce affiliative behaviour toward coworkers. Journal of Business Ethics. Advance online publication. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-022-05141-x