Dr Fergus Neville (StA): Engaged onlooking School of Psychology and Neuroscience Friday seminar series

“How organisational identification shapes public condoning of corporate corruption”
Old Library, 14th of March at 1pm, hosted by Calum Cook

Abstract:

This talk examines how social identity processes shape condoning of organisational corruption among onlookers. Two studies examine the willingness of outside observers to condone, or else condemn, corrupt actions of real organisations, a process we call “engaged onlookership” building on the social identity approach to engaged followership. In both Study 1 (cross-sectional) and Study 2 (experimental) we find that identification with a company guilty of malfeasance and identification with the monitoring agency who uncovered their scandal independently predicted opposing effects on condoning corruption, even while controlling for moral identity and demographic factors. These findings are then replicated and extended in Study 3 that makes several methodological improvements upon previous studies. Results provide additional evidence of an indirect effect of the manipulation on condoning corruption through company identification. These findings provide support for an engaged onlookership model of corruption which posits that onlookers are more likely to endorse morally problematic behaviour when they believe it is performed by, and in the interests of, an organisation with which they identify.

Key Papers:

Anvari, F., M. Wenzel, L. Woodyatt, and S. A. Haslam. 2019. “The Social Psychology of Whistleblowing: An Integrated Model.” Organizational Psychology Review 9, no. 1: 41–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041386619849085.

Birney, M. E., S. D. Reicher, S. A. Haslam, N. K. Steffens, and F. G. Neville. 2023. “Engaged Followership and Toxic Science: Exploring the Effect of Prototypicality on Willingness to Follow Harmful Experimental Instructions.” British Journal of Social Psychology 62, no. 2: 866–882. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12603.

Neville, F. G., Haslam, S. A., Homan, M., Reicher, S. D., & Steffens, N. K. (2024). Engaged onlooking: how organisational identification shapes public condoning of corporate corruption. European Journal of Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.3131

Umphress, E. E., J. B. Bingham, and M. S. Mitchell. 2010. “Unethical Behaviour in the Name of the Company: The Moderating Effect of Organisational Identification and Positive Reciprocity Beliefs on Unethical Pro-Organisational Behaviour.” Journal of Applied Psychology 95, no. 4: 769–780. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019214.