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The Emotion-Evoked Collective Corruption Model: The Role of Emotion in the Spread of Corruption Within Organizations

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  • Kristin Smith-Crowe

    (Management Department, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112)

  • Danielle E. Warren

    (Management and Global Business, Rutgers Business School–Newark and New Brunswick, Newark, New Jersey 07102)

Abstract

We draw from research on emotions and moral reasoning to develop a process model of collective corruption that centers on the role of moral emotions in the spread of corruption within organizations. Our focus on a well-intentioned and deliberative path to corruption is a departure from previous theory, which has focused on mindless and ill-intentioned paths. In our model, moral emotions play a critical role in both the initial recruitment of a target individual (the direct process), as well as the spread of corruption to a broader group of nontargeted individuals through emotional contagion (the vicarious process). For both processes we explain how self-directed moral emotions (guilt, shame, embarrassment, and pride) facilitate the spread of corruption and how other-directed moral emotions (anger and contempt) do not. We conclude by discussing the implications of our theory and directions for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Kristin Smith-Crowe & Danielle E. Warren, 2014. "The Emotion-Evoked Collective Corruption Model: The Role of Emotion in the Spread of Corruption Within Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 1154-1171, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:25:y:2014:i:4:p:1154-1171
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2014.0896
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    Cited by:

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    3. Yip, Jeremy A. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2019. "Losing your temper and your perspective: Anger reduces perspective-taking," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 28-45.
    4. Wen Zheng & Ailin Yu & Ping Fang & Kaiping Peng, 2020. "Exploring collective emotion transmission in face-to-face interactions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-11, August.
    5. Rebecca L. Greenbaum & Mayowa Babalola & Matthew J. Quade & Liang Guo & Yun Chung Kim, 2021. "Moral Burden of Bottom-Line Pursuits: How and When Perceptions of Top Management Bottom-Line Mentality Inhibit Supervisors’ Ethical Leadership Practices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(1), pages 109-123, November.
    6. Joseph McManus, 2021. "Emotions and Ethical Decision Making at Work: Organizational Norms, Emotional Dogs, and the Rational Tales They Tell Themselves and Others," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 153-168, February.
    7. Warren, Danielle E. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2021. "When weak sanctioning systems work: Evidence from auto insurance industry fraud investigations," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 68-83.
    8. Sophie Mölders & Prisca Brosi & Matthias Spörrle & Isabell M. Welpe, 2019. "The Effect of Top Management Trustworthiness on Turnover Intentions via Negative Emotions: The Moderating Role of Gender," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 957-969, June.
    9. Kennedy, Jessica A. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2018. "Building trust by tearing others down: When accusing others of unethical behavior engenders trust," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 111-128.
    10. Bauman, Christopher W. & Tost, Leigh Plunkett & Ong, Madeline, 2016. "Blame the shepherd not the sheep: Imitating higher-ranking transgressors mitigates punishment for unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 123-141.
    11. Thang V. Nguyen & Minh H. Doan & Nhung H. Tran, 2021. "The perpetuation of bribery–prone relationships: A study from Vietnamese public officials," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(5), pages 244-256, December.
    12. Kennedy, Jessica A. & Anderson, Cameron, 2017. "Hierarchical rank and principled dissent: How holding higher rank suppresses objection to unethical practices," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 30-49.
    13. Kanti Pertiwi, 2018. "Contextualizing Corruption: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach to Studying Corruption in Organizations," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-19, April.
    14. Kominis, George & Dudau, Adina, 2018. "Collective corruption–How to live with it: Towards a projection theory of post-crisis corruption perpetuation," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 235-242.
    15. Saera R. Khan & Lauren C. Howe, 2021. "Concern for the Transgressor’s Consequences: An Explanation for Why Wrongdoing Remains Unreported," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 325-344, October.

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