Do moral disengagers experience guilt following workplace misconduct? Consequences for emotional exhaustion and task performance
Ogunfowora B. Nguyen V.Q. Lee C.S. Babalola M.T. Ren S.
March 2023John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Journal of Organizational Behavior
2023#44Issue 3476 - 494 pp.
According to Bandura, moral disengagement facilitates misconduct by minimizing feelings of guilt that normally arise when one contemplates wrongdoing. While trait moral disengagement has been negatively associated with anticipatory guilt, scholars have yet to fully consider its impact on guilt post-misconduct. In this paper, we examine the indirect effects of trait moral disengagement on post-misconduct guilt, and downstream effects on employees mental health and performance. Lastly, we explore the moderating role of post-misconduct state moral disengagement in shaping the effects of trait moral disengagement. Across three studies, we find that trait moral disengagement is positively linked to guilt following interpersonal deviance, unethical work behavior, and objective cheating behavior. Further, trait moral disengagement is indirectly, positively linked to emotional exhaustion and negatively related to executive function (specifically, the capacity to inhibit distraction during tasks). In a fourth study, we find that trait moral disengagement is positively associated with guilt and subsequent emotional exhaustion when individuals employ little to no state moral disengagement immediately post-misconduct. In contrast, trait moral disengagement is negatively linked to guilt and emotional exhaustion when individuals employ state moral disengagement post-misconduct. We discuss the implications of these findings for advancing moral disengagement theory and research.
cheating , emotional exhaustion , guilt , interpersonal deviance , moral disengagement , self-condemning moral emotions , task performance , unethical work behavior
Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи
Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
Graduate School of Business, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
School of Management, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
Queens Management School, Queens University, Belfast, United Kingdom
Haskayne School of Business
Department of Psychology
Graduate School of Business
School of Management
Queens Management School
10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель
Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026