How AI tools can-and cannot-help organizations become more ethical

In this paper, we argue that we cannot expect that AI systems-even given more data or better computational resources-will be more ethical than the humans who develop, deploy and use them. As such, we advocate that it is necessary to retain the responsibility for ethical decision-making in human hands. In reality, however, human decision-makers currently do not have the ethical maturity to meaningfully take on this responsibility. So, what to do? We develop the argument that to broaden and strengthen the ethical upskilling of our organizations and leaders, AI has a crucial role to play. Specifically, because AI is a mirror that reflects our biases and moral flaws back to us, decision-makers should look carefully into this mirror-taking advantage of the opportunities brought about by its scale, interpretability, and counterfactual modeling-to gain a deep understanding of the psychological underpinnings of our (un)ethical behaviors, and in turn, learn to consistently make ethical decisions. In discussing this proposal, we introduce a new collaborative paradigm between humans and AI that can help ethically upskill our organizations and leaders and thereby prepare them to responsibly navigate the impending digital future.

DENIAL: A conceptual framework to improve honesty nudges

Strategies to mitigate dishonesty have met with limited success, leading behavioral ethics scholars to call for a deeper understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying dishonesty. In this article, I introduce a conceptual framework, DENIAL, that identifies four fundamental mechanisms, or justifications, which provide people a rationale to consider themselves as ethical while acting unethically. I derive these justifications from a review of scholarship within cognate fields, drawing on Moral Disengagement Theory and Neutralization Theory. I identify the victim (they Deserve it), the situation (I blame my Environment), the harm (I cause No Injury), and the social relationship (I have other ALlegiances) as fundamental justifications for dishonesty. I discuss how future mitigation strategies might harness these justifications to improve their efficacy.

How COVID-19 can promote workplace cheating behavior via employee anxiety and self-interest - And how prosocial messages may overcome this effect

While scholars have debated whether environmental factors (e.g., air pollution) can prompt unethical behavior (e.g., crime), we argue that the COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity to inform this theoretical debate by elaborating on why these effects may occur, identifying how they can be overcome, and addressing methodological issues. Drawing on appraisal theories of emotion, we argue that appraising COVID-19 (i.e., an environmental factor) as a threat can elicit anxiety. This can focus employees on their own self-interest and prompt cheating behavior (i.e., unethical workplace behavior). However, we propose that these detrimental effects can be attenuated by prosocial messages (i.e., highlighting the meaningful and positive impact that employees' work can have on others). Our predictions were supported using a two-wave survey (N = 396) and an experiment (N = 163) with samples of full-time employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Theoretically, our studies inform this ongoing debate by highlighting the importance of state anxiety and self-interest as key mechanisms and that drawing peoples' attention towards others can serve as a boundary condition. Practically, we provide insight into the ethical costs of COVID-19 in the workplace and identify a simple yet effective strategy that organizations can use to curtail workplace cheating behavior.

The mediating effect of moral courage in the relationship between virtuous leadership and moral voice

Purpose

The present study examines how virtuous leadership influences moral voice in organisations through moral courage as a mediating variable.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected using a questionnaire survey of 376 employees and their immediate supervisors (289 employees and 87 supervisors), working in 11 firms of medical suppliers. The data were collected from employees and their immediate supervisors at two different phases and on separate questionnaires.

Findings

The results revealed that virtuous leadership has a positive and significant relationship with moral voice. Furthermore, the results showed that moral courage fully mediates the indirect relationship between virtuous leadership and moral voice.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to address the relationship between virtuous leadership and moral voice. In addition, it is the first to explore the mediating mechanism in the relationship between virtuous leadership and moral voice through moral courage as a mediating variable.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Cheating Behavior: The Mediating Effects of Organizational Identification and Perceived Supervisor Moral Decoupling

Previous corporate social responsibility (CSR) studies at the employee level have focused on the influence of CSR on employees' positive attitudes and behavior. However, little attention has been paid to the relationship between CSR and unethical behavior and the underlying mechanism. Based on social information processing theory, this study investigates how CSR affects employee cheating via employees' organizational identification and perceived supervisor moral decoupling. Additionally, this study discusses the moderating effect of employee bottom-line mentality on these relationships. We test this two-path model using a sample of MBA students in China. The results indicate that both organizational identification and perceived supervisor moral decoupling mediate the relationship between CSR and cheating, and employee bottom-line mentality moderates the effect of CSR on perceived supervisor moral decoupling. Specifically, for employees low in bottom-line mentality, CSR has a significantly negative impact on perceived supervisor moral decoupling, but the same relationship is insignificant for employees with a strong bottom-line mentality. Overall, our results uncover the relationship between CSR and employee cheating and extend the understanding of the influence of CSR on employees.

A glimpse into prosociality at work

Prosociality is an important part of the work context. Employees, leaders, and organizations show various forms of prosocial behavior such as supporting colleagues suffering from heavy workload, voluntarily organizing social events fostering a good organizational climate, or providing goods and services that benefit society at large. From the plethora of constructs related to prosociality at work, I herein provide a brief introduction to the currently most prominent ones with regard to organizational members in general (organizational citizenship behavior) and leaders (servant leadership), respectively. Moreover, I briefly sketch how research on prosociality at work would likely profit from a stronger integration of research from related fields, within and beyond the organizational literature.