MACHIAVellIAnIsM, UnetHICAl BeHAVIoR, AnD Well-BeIng In ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

184 DAHLING, KUyUMCU, AND LIBRIzzI from Machiavelli’s writing. First, they adopt a cynical view of the world and other people, expecting that each person is invested solely in his or her own self-interests. Second, they are willing to utilize manipulative tactics to influence others and secure desired outcomes. Third, they are quite willing to depart from ethical standards when unethical behavior provides a necessary advantage over others. To this end, Machiavellianism entails a freedom from ethical consideration rather than a propensity to always behave unethically. More recent research on Machiavellianism has elaborated on these ideas, pointing out that Machiavellian people behave this way predominantly out of a motivation to secure extrinsic achievements, rewards, status, and power over other people (Dahling, Whitaker, and Levy, 2009; McHoskey, 1999; Stewart and Stewart, 2006). Consistent with this research, Machiavellianism is best considered a stable motivational orientation, and it is important to clarify what Machiavellianism does not involve before proceeding further. First, Machiavellianism implies only a desire to manipulate, not necessarily a particular ability to exercise manipulative tactics effectively. Machiavellianism is distinct from traits like emotional intelligence, cognitive ability, and social skills (e.g., Austin et al., 2007; Dahling, Whitaker, and Levy, 2009; Jones and Paulhus, 2009) that facilitate effective manipulation, so it is important to recognize that Machiavellians are motivated to manipulate, but may not be skilled at manipulation by default. Second, Machiavellianism is related to, but distinct from, psychological disorders such as clinical psychopathy and narcissism (e.g., Paulhus and Williams, 2002). Machiavellian behavior is consequently present in the population of everyday working adults and is, unfortunately, a common experience in many organizations, which may have important consequences for employees’ well-being. MACHIAVellIAnIsM AnD UnetHICAl WoRkPlACe BeHAVIoRs Given their propensity to behave amorally and manipulate others, it is not surprising that Machiavellian employees commit a wide variety of unethical, counterproductive behaviors at work (e.g., Granitz, 2003; Gunnthorsdottir, McCabe, and Smith, 2002; Hegarty and Sims, 1979; Tang and Chen, 2007). Machiavellians will go to great lengths to get ahead of others, and likewise, they readily engage in interpersonal deviance to achieve these ends. For example, O’Fallon and Butterfield (2005) reviewed the empirical literature on ethical decision-making from 1996 to 2003 and found that Machiavellianism was consistently and negatively linked to ethical decision making, a trend reflected in large bodies of research on stealing, lying, sabotage, and cheating committed by Machiavellian employees. theft Research illustrates that Machiavellians are readily willing to steal, even within trusting relationships. Harrell and Hartnagel (1976) found, for example, that Machiavellians stole from both trusting and distrustful employers. Their study allowed both high- and low-Machiavellians to steal in simulated worker–supervisor situations. In one condition, the confederate supervisor was blatantly untrusting of the participant worker and would regularly monitor his or her behavior. In another condition, the confederate supervisor was trustful of the worker and disclosed that he or she would not be monitoring the worker’s behavior. Most of the participants stole from the untrusting supervisor, but only the highly Machiavellian participants were more likely to steal from the trusting supervisor. Moreover, they also stole in greater quantities across both conditions when compared to participants with low Machiavellianism. Highly Machiavellian participants also tried to hide their theft and even denied it when interrogated by the distrustful supervisor. In
UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR, AND WELL-BEING IN ORGANIzATIONAL LIFE 185 a more recent study, Machiavellians were found to be unlikely to reciprocate trust when it was extended to them in a negotiation, and they generally had no qualms about using morally questionable tactics to achieve their goals and take most of the winnings for themselves (Gunnthorsdottir, McCabe, and Smith, 2002). Machiavellians are also willing to steal intangible knowledge resources from others. Winter, Stylianou, and Giacalone (2004) found that Machiavellians were willing to ignore a wide range of intellectual property rights; highly Machiavellian employees endorsed behaviors such as taking confidential records from work and using proprietary system knowledge from one employer to re-create a product or service for another employer. They also found that Machiavellian employees were more willing to violate the privacy of coworkers by accessing personal data without permission and reading communications that were meant to be private. Thus, Machiavellian employees seem motivated to steal both tangible resources and intangible information from others. lying and Deceit Lying is another unethical tactic employed by Machiavellians, who tend to make more believable liars (Geis and Moon, 1981; Janisse and Bradley, 1980). For example, Ross and Robertson (2000) found that Machiavellians were inclined to lie overtly and to take advantage of ambiguity in ethical guidelines to deceive others. McLeod and Genereux (2008) clarified that Machiavellians typically lie only in circumstances that will benefit them, and not for reasons of altruism or social acceptance (e.g., to show kindness to others with a “white lie”). They identified Machiavellianism as one of the key predictors of one’s propensity to condone as well as engage in self-gain or conflict-avoidance lies. sabotage Machiavellians are also known to engage in acts of sabotage in the workplace. For example, people who are high in both Machiavellianism and hostility tend to justify acts of sabotage more so than individuals who are neither hostile nor Machiavellian (Giacalone and Knouse, 1990). Similarly, McLeod and Genereux (2008) predicted that Machiavellians would be prone to justifying acts of sabotage because of their self-focused behavior. Their results indicated that Machiavellianism coupled with hostility allowed the individual to justify profit sabotage (e.g., providing misleading information about revenue), as well as information sabotage (e.g., spreading hurtful rumors). The authors explained that a hostile attitude can heighten a Machiavellian disposition and promote corrupt actions. Further, Machiavellians are most likely to engage in corrupt strategies if they are not likely to be caught and if the potential gains are to their benefit (Giacalone and Knouse, 1990; Shlenker, 1980). Cheating Machiavellians typically show little interest in conforming to organizational rules that are designed to promote fairness and ethical behavior. For example, in a laboratory experiment, Hegarty and Sims (1979) found that Machiavellians would be more likely to pay mock purchasing agents illicit bonuses in order to increase sales. In a role-play experiment on consumer cheating on service guarantees, Wirtz and Kum (2004) found that highly Machiavellian participants were more likely to cheat on service guarantees than participants with low Machiavellianism. Furthermore, Machiavellians are more accepting of active academic cheating (e.g., copying another student’s
Page 1: 12 MACHIAVellIAnIsM, UnetHICAl BeHA
Page 5 and 6: UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR, AND WELL-BEING

MACHIAVellIAnIsM, UnetHICAl BeHAVIoR, AnD Well-BeIng In ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?