Moral Emotion, Moral Cognition, and (Im)Moral Behavior in the Workplace

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Background

Moral behavior is subject to socially accepted moral norms and also has a pervasive influence on organizational performance. With the emergence of ethical issues found in organizations, practitioners and scholars pay increasing attention to ethics management. Therefore, workplace moral behavior (e.g., pro-social behavior and organizational citizenship behavior - OCB) and immoral behavior (e.g., interpersonal abusive behavior, deviant/counterproductive behavior, and unethical pro-organizational behavior) have also received substantial research interests over the past decades. To date, the most common framework used to study moral behavior has been the cognitive approach, with abundant evidence demonstrating that emotion and cognition are the two core elements in generating and influencing workplace (im)moral behavior. However, limited studies have been conducted to explore the emotional/cognitive processes or integrative moral emotion-cognition system relevant to workplace moral behavior. Despite our knowledge of the antecedents and consequences of workplace (im)moral behaviors, more research on the generating mechanism, influencing mechanism, transformation mechanism, and governance strategies is needed. For example, it is unclear how exhibiting (im)moral behavior in the workplace would impact the actor’s and the third-party observer’s emotions, thoughts, feelings, and subsequent behavior. Besides, the question of whether ethical/unethical leader behavior would trigger a “trickle-down effect” is underdeveloped, which refers to the fact that how the behavior or perception of the top leaders affects employees from top to bottom along the formal vertical power chain. In addition, we have little knowledge on when, how, and why the ethical employees (the so-called “good soldiers”) would engage in workplace immoral behavior, and vice-versa.

The main goal of this Research Topic is to extend and enrich the research on workplace (im)moral behavior, further developing the individual emotion-centric model and social cognitive process model, exploring the individual dynamic moral emotions and moral cognition before and after the conduct of workplace (im)moral behavior, and clarifying the respective boundary conditions. Furthermore, this Research Topic also welcomes the research that addresses the costs or benefits that organizational members experience from engaging in workplace immoral (moral) behavior and proposes various governance strategies toward the behavior.

Topics of interest for this Research Topic include, but are not limited, to the following themes relevant to the workplace (im)moral behavior:

• Self-conscious moral emotions (e.g., shame, guilt, embarrassment, and pride) and workplace (im)moral behavior
• Other-oriented moral emotions (e.g., anger, disgust, contempt, and gratitude) and workplace (im)moral behavior
• Moral cognition (e.g., moral self-efficacy, perceived loss of moral credits, moral self-regard) and workplace (im)moral behavior
• Moral awareness, moral identity, and workplace (im)moral behavior
• Victim-centric outcomes of workplace (im)moral behavior
• Perpetrator-centric (actor-centric) outcomes of workplace (im)moral behavior
• Bystander effects of workplace (im)moral behavior
• Moral balance (e.g., moral licensing and moral cleansing effects) and workplace (im)moral behavior
• Ethical/unethical leader behavior and followers’ moral emotions, moral cognition, moral judgment, moral decision-making, and (im)moral behavior
• Impact of individual moral characteristics on moral emotions, moral cognition, and (im)moral behavior in the workplace
• Impact of team moral standards/norms on individual moral emotions, moral cognition, and (im)moral behavior in the workplace
• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individual moral emotions, moral cognition, and (im)moral behavior in the workplace.

We invite both conceptual and empirical research as well as systematic literature review on the above topics. And we are particularly interested in research that combines multiple theoretical backgrounds, theory development, and methodological approaches.

Keywords: Organizational Behavior, Workplace Moral and Immoral Behavior, Moral Emotions, Morally Relevant Social Emotional Process, Moral Cognition, Moral Judgement, Emotion-Cognition System, Moral Decisions, Individual Morality, Collective Morality, COVID-19 Pandemic

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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