Predicting unwillingness to report ethical infractions of peers: A moderated mediation approach

• Main Authors: Priya Nair, T.J. Kamalanabhan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2011-06-01
• Series: IIMB Management Review
• Subjects: Peer reporting; Moral disengagement; Cynicism; Ethical empowerment; Immoral leadership; Ethical ambiguity
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0970389611000115

In recent times, survey reports on ethical infractions at workplaces and instances of fraud have shocked and disappointed the corporate world and stakeholders alike. Several infractions however go unreported even in organisations which have ethical codes that offer a mechanism for reporting. This raises the question as to why employees pass off infractions as being ‘all right’ at work and how such attitudes affect their willingness to report and thereby curtail infractions. We posit organisational antecedents that may dissuade managers from reporting the ethical infractions of their peers and develop a moderated mediation model to explain which employees are more likely to refrain from reporting infractions, besides offering a possible solution to the problem.