The Dark Side of Goal Setting: The Role of Goals in Motivating Unethical Decision Making

A substantial literature has demonstrated that goal setting improves task performance (Locke & Latham, 1990). In this article we explore the proposition that challenging goals motivate not only constructive behavior, but also unethical behavior such as lying and cheating. We conducted eight scenario studies and an anagram experiment, and find support for our thesis. Respondents rated individuals with unmet goals as significantly more likely to engage in unethical behavior than similar individuals attempting to do their best or with met goals. Similarly, participants in the goal conditions in our experiment were significantly more likely to misrepresent their productivity in an anagram task than were participants in the do your best condition. This relationship was particularly strong when people had reward rather than mere goals, and when people were just short of reaching the goal. We explain our results in terms of the reference point adoption process consistent with Prospect Theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979), and identify specific contributions to goal setting theory and management practice

Investigating the Effects of Anger and Guilt on Unethical Behavior:A Dual-Process Approach

Although emotion has become one of the most popular research areas within organizational scholarship, few studies have considered its connection with unethical behavior. Using dual-process theory, we expand on the rationalist perspective within the field of behavioral ethics by considering the process through which two discrete emotions, anger and guilt, influence unethical behavior. Across two studies using different methodologies, we found that anger increases unethical behavior whereas guilt reduces unethical behavior. These effects were mediated by impulsive and deliberative processing. Overall, our results shed light on distinct mechanisms through which emotions can influence unethical behavior. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed

On Good Scholarship, Goal Setting, and Scholars Gone Wild

In this article, we define good scholarship, highlight our points of disagreement with Locke and Latham (2009), and call for further academic research to examine the full range of goal setting\u27s effects. We reiterate our original claim that goal setting, like a potent medication, can produce both beneficial effects and systematic, negative outcomes (Ordóñez, Schweitzer, Galinsky,& Bazerman, 2009), and as a result, it should be carefully prescribed and closely monitored

Type 2 Diabetes Variants Disrupt Function of SLC16A11 through Two Distinct Mechanisms

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) affects Latinos at twice the rate seen in populations of European descent. We recently identified a risk haplotype spanning SLC16A11 that explains ∼20% of the increased T2D prevalence in Mexico. Here, through genetic fine-mapping, we define a set of tightly linked variants likely to contain the causal allele(s). We show that variants on the T2D-associated haplotype have two distinct effects: (1) decreasing SLC16A11 expression in liver and (2) disrupting a key interaction with basigin, thereby reducing cell-surface localization. Both independent mechanisms reduce SLC16A11 function and suggest SLC16A11 is the causal gene at this locus. To gain insight into how SLC16A11 disruption impacts T2D risk, we demonstrate that SLC16A11 is a proton-coupled monocarboxylate transporter and that genetic perturbation of SLC16A11 induces changes in fatty acid and lipid metabolism that are associated with increased T2D risk. Our findings suggest that increasing SLC16A11 function could be therapeutically beneficial for T2D. Video Abstract [Figure presented] Keywords: type 2 diabetes (T2D); genetics; disease mechanism; SLC16A11; MCT11; solute carrier (SLC); monocarboxylates; fatty acid metabolism; lipid metabolism; precision medicin

Judgments of social justice: Compromises between equality and efficiency.

Political economists agree that a trade-offexists between equality and efficiency. Using a hypotheti-cal society paradigm, we manipulated the mean income (representing efficiency) and income variability (representing equality) of distributions of wealth and the correlation between wealth and effort within a society. Subjects made all pairwise comparisons of distributions within societies of differing meritocracy. A "maximin " principle best described trade-off resolution strategies when effort and outcome were weakly linked: People maximized the minimum standard of living within a society. A compromise principle best described preferences when income was tightly linked to effort: People rejected distributions in which some citizens fell below the "poverty line " but maxi-mized efficiency above this constraint. Ideological polarization was pronounced under moderate meritocracy; here liberals could focus on the role of chance and conservatives on the role of effort and ability. A central tension in theories of distributive justice is the trade-off between equality of wealth distribution and effi-ciency of wealth generation (see Bowie, 1971; McConnell, 1987; Okun, 1975). On the one hand, to promote social equality, mos