Prof. Lucy Lin, Associate Professor in Management, recently published a research article “Punishing the perpetrator of incivility: The differential roles of moral identity and moral thinking orientation” in the top journal titled “Journal of Management”.
It is a paradoxical phenomenon that third parties of interpersonal mistreatment are motivated to restore justice but often engage in unethical actions which cause the mistreatment to spread and escalate. Our research focuses on the context of peer-to-peer incivility that is ubiquitous but detrimental in the workplace. The pervasiveness of peer-to-peer incivility and the large number of potential witnesses warrant an examination of third-party reactions to such incivility. Based on three studies with different designs and various samples, our findings show that moral identity enhances third-party’s sensitivity to injustice occasions but has relatively weak power to guide behavioral reaction in the peer-to-peer incivility context. In contrast, rule-based moral thinking orientation (vs. outcome-based moral thinking orientation) plays an important role in inhibiting third-parties’ destructive punitive reaction to observed mistreatment.
This research provides further insights into the phenomenon of incivility contagion and spirals by exploring whether observers contribute to an escalatory pattern of interpersonal mistreatment when they are aroused by moral impetus but fail to morally regulate their acts. Our research provides implications for organizations and practitioners in managing uncivil events among their employees and strengthening employee moral identity and rule-based moral thinking orientation through careful recruitment and selection and various management practices.
這是一個常見的矛盾現象: 觀察到人際間不公平對待的第三方往往有恢復正義的動機，但卻常常因此而進行不符合道德倫理的行為，導致不公平行為的蔓延和升級。我們的研究重點是同事之間的不文明行為。這種行為在工作場所無處不在，但危害很大。同伴間不文明行為的普遍性和大量的潛在觀察者，使得研究第三方觀察者對這種不文明行為的反應變得很重要。基於三個具有不同設計和不同樣本的研究，我們發現，道德認同增強了第三方對不公正場合的敏感性，但在同事間不文明行為的研究背景下，道德認同指導行為反應的力量相對較弱。而基於規則的道德思維取向(與基於結果的道德思維取向相對)對第三方的不道德的破壞性懲罰反應起著重要的抑製作用。
這項研究通過探索當人際不公平對待的觀察者的道德動機被喚起但未能從道德上調節自己的行為時，是否會促成人際不公平對待的升級，從而對不文明行為的傳染和螺旋上升現象提供了進一步的見解。我們的研究為組織和經理人如何管理員工中的不文明行為提供了啟示，建議管理者需要通過謹慎的招聘和選拔以及各種管理措施加強員工的道德認同和基於規則的道德思維導向。
Lin, X., Loi, R. (2021), Punishing the perpetrator of incivility: The differential roles of moral identity and moral thinking orientation., Journal of Management, 47(4), 898-929. (ABS4*)
