Understanding unethical behaviour in the workplace : the CUBT model

Abstract

Despite the advances in research on social contagions, personality and contextual factors, there has been no attempt to test the effect of coworker contagion on unethical behaviour in a comprehensive model. There is also a lack of research that attempted to identify a threshold for unethical behaviour. This dissertation provided a framework for testing coworker contagions and unethical behaviour threshold: The Contagious Unethical Behaviour Threshold (CUBT) model. Through a three-study package, the dissertation assessed the theoretical and empirical viability of coworker contagion levels, that is, the number of employees committing unethical behaviour, along with personal values (idealism and relativism) and contexts (risks and rewards) that moderate contagion effects on unethical behaviour. The dissertation also assessed the threshold concept, the point beyond which coworker contagions result in a clear increase in unethical behaviour likelihood. The first study found some support for the existence of a threshold concept based on a qualitative assessment of the effect of coworker contagion levels on unethical behaviour likelihood. Findings from the three studies strongly suggest that coworker contagion levels affected unethical behaviour likelihood. Most statistically significant interactions of personal values and contextual factors involved coworker contagion levels (in the three studies, a total of nine interactions involved coworker contagion levels while a total of three interactions did not involve coworker contagion levels). In all three studies, the contagion effect prevailed over other variables. This work expands on unethical behaviour theory and demonstrates the importance of appreciating the complex interplay among predictors in influencing unethical behaviour.