Publication Type

PhD Dissertation

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2019

Abstract

In my dissertation, I systematically examine what it means to be morally flexible. I develop a scale to capture an individual’s willingness to adapt their moral behavior and examine both positive and negative consequences of this type of moral flexibility in the workplace. My dissertation consists of three studies. In Chapter 2, I draw from the personality strength literature and research on within-person variability in moral behavior to introduce the construct of moral adaptability (MA) defined as the willing to adjust moral behavior depending on the situation. I argue MA functions in a similar manner to personality strength (but in the moral domain), such that when individuals are low in MA, they are most likely to express their moral values, while being high in MA makes individuals much more susceptible to situational influences and less likely to express their moral preferences. I develop and validate a scale assessing the construct and demonstrate in six independent samples (four samples of undergraduate students at a university in Singapore and two samples of working adults in the United States) that the scale shows good psychometric properties. I also develop initial empirical evidence for how the scale functions and in two independent samples illustrate how low MA strengthens the positive relationship between moral character (i.e., internalization dimension of moral identity, Honesty-Humility) and moral behavior (i.e., charitable behavior) and explains both positive and negative employee outcomes (i.e., constructive deviance, unethical pro-organizational behavior).

Building from these results, in Chapter 3, I draw from feelings-as-information theory and propose that individuals high in MA use situations to justify their past unethical behavior and therefore experience less guilt and shame. An experience-sample study with a sample of 55 undergraduate students in Singapore shows that respondents high in MA experienced lower guilt and shame in the aftermath of their unethical behavior as compared to those low in MA and that MA explained the felt emotions above and beyond a wide array of other traditional moral constructs.

In Chapter 4, I integrate the concept of ethical leadership to examine the implications of MA for workplace interpersonal relationships and leader influence on subordinates. Drawing from research on role modeling and moral self-threat, I hypothesize that subordinates who perceive ethics to be highly relevant to them and work under an ethical leader with low MA are more likely to experience higher self-threat due to the leader and become less likely to perceive their ethical leader as a role model. A two-wave sample of 486 subordinate-supervisor dyads in organizations in India provides partial support that subordinates who perceive ethics to be highly relevant and work under an ethical leader with low MA experience higher self-threat due to the leader.

In each chapter, I discuss the contributions of this dissertation to the organizational ethics literature, practical implications for managers in organizations, limitations, and directions for future research.

Keywords

Ethics, Individual Difference, Personality Strength, Emotion, Leadership

Degree Awarded

PhD in Business (OBHR)

Discipline

Human Resources Management | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Supervisor(s)

BASHSHUR, Michael Ramsay

Publisher

Singapore Management University

City or Country

Singapore

Copyright Owner and License

Author

Download

Share

COinS