The Authentic Moral Self: Dynamic Interplay between Perceived Authenticity and Moral Behaviors in the Workplace

Mastery Approach Goals Mediate the Relationship Between Authenticity and Academic Cheating: Evidence from Cross-Sectional and Two-Wave Longitudinal Studies

Purpose

Prior studies revealed several beneficial aspects of being authentic, such as higher subjective well-being, more harmonious interpersonal relationships, and better workplace performance. However, how authenticity relates to unethical cheating behaviors in the academic context remains to be seen. Based on the literature review, the present study hypothesized that authenticity may be negatively linked to academic cheating through the mediating path of mastery approach goals.

Methods

In Study 1, 250 college students self-reported their demographics and academic performance, and completed the scales of authenticity, academic cheating, mastery approach goals, and social desirability. In Study 2, 111 college students completed the same measures as in Study 1 at two different time points (5 months in between).

Results

In Study 1, the results indicated that authenticity was positively associated with mastery approach goals, and both were negatively associated with academic cheating. After controlling for the confounding effect of gender, age, academic performance, and social desirability, mastery approach goals were identified as a mediator in the authenticity-academic cheating relationship. In Study 2, the correlation result confirmed the association patterns found in Study 1. Moreover, cross-lagged analysis supported the directionality proposed in the mediation model.

Conclusion

The findings identified the mediating role of mastery approach goals in the link between authenticity and academic cheating, supporting the motivated cognition perspective of personality, the motivational model of academic cheating, and the self-determination theory. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research were provided.

To Be Authentic, to Be Eco: Exploring the Link Between Authenticity and Pro-environmental Behavior

Authentic self is believed to be morally good. The current research proposes that the authentic self is also environmentally good. Across two studies, we tested the link between authenticity and pro-environmental attitude and behavior. In Study 1 (N=2,646), dispositional authenticity was found to be a predictor of pro-environmental behavior (PEB). In Study 2 (N=474), participants in the authentic condition (recalling their experiences of being authentic) were more willing to donate money to protect the environment than those in the inauthentic (recalling their experiences of being inauthentic) or the neutral (recalling their experiences of a typical day) conditions. Participants in the authentic condition also reported higher intention to conduct PEB than their peers in the other conditions. The results of the present research provide initial evidence that people are more likely to endorse pro-environmental attitude and behave pro-environmentally when being authentic.

Why do followers feel inauthentic and withdraw? The joint effect of leader Machiavellianism and perceived collectivistic work climate

OBJECTIVE

Although past research has shown the negative consequences of state inauthenticity (i.e., the experience of inauthenticity), what triggers state inauthenticity remains to be better understood. We focus on leader Machiavellianism (Mach), defined as the extent to which leaders engage in unethical and manipulative behaviors to attain their goals, as a predictor of follower state inauthenticity. Drawing on the social misfit argument, we examined a model in which leader Mach, jointly with a perceived collectivistic work climate, determines follower state inauthenticity and subsequent work withdrawal.

METHOD

We used a vignette-based lab study (303 participants from the United States) and a daily diary field study (476 daily responses from 69 participants recruited from China).

RESULTS

Across two studies, we found that follower state inauthenticity mediated the relationship between leader Mach and follower work withdrawal. The positive relationship between leader Mach and follower state inauthenticity was strengthened by a perceived collectivistic work climate.

CONCLUSIONS

The present research underlines the importance of the social environment in influencing follower state inauthenticity at work and shifts research attention from the consequences of state inauthenticity to its predictors.