The role of risk climate and ethical self-interest climate in predicting unethical pro-organisational behaviour

Unethical pro-organisational behaviour (UPB) is an ongoing concern, prompting the need for more nuanced understanding of the workplace environment most likely to inhibit it. This study considers the role of risk climate, sometimes referred to as risk culture, as well as ethical climate, for reducing...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics
Authors: Sheedy, Elizabeth A. (Author) ; Garcia, Patrick (Author) ; Jepsen, Denise (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V 2021
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2021, Volume: 173, Issue: 2, Pages: 281-300
Further subjects:B Misconduct
B Multiple climates
B Risk climate
B Risk culture
B Aufsatz in Zeitschrift
B Ethical Climate
B Unethical pro-organisational behaviour
B Financial services
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Summary:Unethical pro-organisational behaviour (UPB) is an ongoing concern, prompting the need for more nuanced understanding of the workplace environment most likely to inhibit it. This study considers the role of risk climate, sometimes referred to as risk culture, as well as ethical climate, for reducing UPB. The study investigates whether four risk climate factors (avoidance, valued, proactive and manager) can, by focusing on the long-term consequences of UPB to the organisation, and providing guidance on behavioural norms, reduce UPB misconduct. Surveying employees in three financial institutions we found that only one of the risk climate factors, avoidance, is consistently associated with UPB. On the other hand, a self-interested, (un)ethical climate significantly increases UPB in all samples. In multi-climate analysis, we found that risk climate factors interacted with ethical climate to predict UPB. That is, when employees perceive that the workplace ethos is not self-interested, three factors of risk climate—avoidance, proactive and manager—significantly predict UPB. UPB is least likely when self-interest is low, avoidance risk climate is low, proactive risk climate is high and manager risk climate is high. Implications for leaders are discussed.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10551-020-04542-0