Guest Editors’ Introduction On Understanding Ethical Behavior and Decision Making

Behavioral ethics is an emerging field that takes an empirical, social scientific approach to the study of business ethics. In this special issue, we include six articles that fall within the domain of behavioral ethics and that focus on three themes—moral awareness, ethical decision making, and reactions to unethical behavior. Each of the articles sheds additional light on the specific issues addressed. However, we hope this special issue will have an impact beyond that of the new insights offered in these articles, by stimulating evenmore research in this burgeoning field

Trickle-Down Effects Of Supervisor Perceptions Of Interactional Justice: A Moderated Mediation Approach

Supervisors\u27 perceptions of how fairly they are treated by their own supervisors can influence their subordinates\u27 perceptions, attitudes, and behavior. We present a moderated mediation model that demonstrates how work group structure can enhance or constrain these effects. Results show supervisors\u27 perceptions of the fairness of the interactional treatment they receive relate to their subordinates\u27 perceptions of interactional justice climate, and this relationship is stronger in work groups with more organic structures. Furthermore, consistent with the moderated mediation prediction, interactional justice climate mediates the relationship between supervisors\u27 perceptions of interactional justice and outcomes when work group structures are more organic. We discuss the implications of the findings for research on justice and trickle-down effects. © 2013 American Psychological Association

Encouraging Employees To Report Unethical Conduct Internally: It Takes A Village

Via three studies of varying methodologies designed to complement and build upon each other, we examine how supervisory ethical leadership is associated with employees\u27 reporting unethical conduct within the organization (i.e., internal whistle-blowing). We also examine whether the positive effect of supervisory ethical leadership is enhanced by another important social influence: coworkers\u27 ethical behavior. As predicted, we found that employees\u27 internal whistle-blowing depends on an ethical tone being set by complementary social influence sources at multiple organizational levels (both supervisory and coworker levels), leading us to conclude that it takes a village to support internal whistle-blowing. Also, this interactive effect was found to be mediated by a fear of retaliation in two studies but not by perceptions of futility. We conclude by identifying theoretical and practical implications of our research. © 2013 Elsevier Inc

The Impact of Individual Ethics on Reactions to Potentially Invasive HR Practices

background searches, drug testing, electronic monitoring, ethical orientation, formalism, privacy, utilitarianism,

Abusive Supervision Climate: A Multiple-Mediation Model of its Impact on Group Outcomes

In this paper, we introduce the construct of abusive supervision climate, the collective perceptions employees hold regarding abusive supervision in their work unit. We thereby extend research on abusive supervision to the team level, which allows us to explore its relationship with outcomes not addressed by individual-level theories of abuse. First, we explain the emergence of abusive supervision climate through the lens of social information processing theory. Then, drawing on team process and effectiveness models, we develop a multiple-mediation model that identifies two distinct mechanisms by which abusive supervision climate impacts group-level outcomes: social identity and collective efficacy. Results demonstrate that abusive supervision climate influences social- and task-related group outcomes through these two mediation processes. Copyright of the Academy of Management, all rights reserved. Contents