TY - JOUR
T1 - Are creative individuals bad apples ? A dual pathway model of unethical behavior
AU - KEEM, Sejin
AU - SHALLEY, Christina E.
AU - KIM, Eugene
AU - JEONG, Inseong
PY - 2018/4
Y1 - 2018/4
N2 - Research has been inconsistent in its quest to discover whether dispositional creativity is associated with more or less unethical behavior. Drawing on social cognitive theory, we propose that moral disengagement and moral imagination are 2 parallel mechanisms that encourage or inhibit unethical behavior, and that which of these mediation processes occur depends on moral identity. Study 1, a 3-wave study of a food service organization, shows that employees high on both dispositional creativity and moral identity are less likely to be morally disengaged and behave less unethically. The results of Study 2 replicate Study 1’s findings in a scenario-based study of college students, and further show that individuals who are high on both dispositional creativity and moral identity are more likely to be morally imaginative and to behave less unethically. Theoretical and practical implications of our model are discussed.
AB - Research has been inconsistent in its quest to discover whether dispositional creativity is associated with more or less unethical behavior. Drawing on social cognitive theory, we propose that moral disengagement and moral imagination are 2 parallel mechanisms that encourage or inhibit unethical behavior, and that which of these mediation processes occur depends on moral identity. Study 1, a 3-wave study of a food service organization, shows that employees high on both dispositional creativity and moral identity are less likely to be morally disengaged and behave less unethically. The results of Study 2 replicate Study 1’s findings in a scenario-based study of college students, and further show that individuals who are high on both dispositional creativity and moral identity are more likely to be morally imaginative and to behave less unethically. Theoretical and practical implications of our model are discussed.
UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29239642
U2 - 10.1037/apl0000290
DO - 10.1037/apl0000290
M3 - Journal Article (refereed)
C2 - 29239642
VL - 103
SP - 416
EP - 431
JO - Journal of Applied Psychology
JF - Journal of Applied Psychology
SN - 0021-9010
IS - 4
ER -