IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v147y2018i1d10.1007_s10551-015-2944-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effects of Thought Suppression on Ethical Decision Making: Mental Rebound Versus Ego Depletion

Author

Listed:
  • Kai Chi Yam

    (National University of Singapore)

Abstract

Although thought suppression is a commonly used self-control strategy that has far-reaching consequences, its effect on ethical decision making is unclear. Whereas ironic process theory suggests that suppressing ethics-related thoughts leads to mental rebounds of ethicality and decreased unethical behavior, ego depletion theory suggests that thought suppression can lead to reduced self-control and increased unethical behavior. Integrating the two theories, I propose that the effect of thought suppression on unethical behavior hinges on the content of the suppressed thoughts. Participants who suppressed ethics-related [-unrelated] thoughts engaged in less [more] cyber bullying (Experiment 1), cheating (Experiments 2–3), and dishonesty (Experiment 4) compared to participants in the control conditions. Explicit (Experiment 3) and implicit (Experiment 4) moral awareness was found to mediate this moderated effect. Experiment 4 further demonstrated that suppressing ethics-related thoughts reduces self-control performance on a subsequent amoral task, but not on subsequent ethical decision making.

Suggested Citation

  • Kai Chi Yam, 2018. "The Effects of Thought Suppression on Ethical Decision Making: Mental Rebound Versus Ego Depletion," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 65-79, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:147:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2944-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2944-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-015-2944-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-015-2944-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kathleen D. Vohs & Ronald J. Faber, 2007. "Spent Resources: Self-Regulatory Resource Availability Affects Impulse Buying," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(4), pages 537-547, January.
    2. Loewenstein, George, 1996. "Out of Control: Visceral Influences on Behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 272-292, March.
    3. Gino, Francesca & Schweitzer, Maurice E. & Mead, Nicole L. & Ariely, Dan, 2011. "Unable to resist temptation: How self-control depletion promotes unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 191-203, July.
    4. Fernandes, Maria F. & Randall, Donna M., 1992. "The Nature of Social Desirability Response Effects in Ethics Research," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(2), pages 183-205, April.
    5. Shane Frederick & George Loewenstein & Ted O'Donoghue, 2002. "Time Discounting and Time Preference: A Critical Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 351-401, June.
    6. Mead, N.L. & Baumeister, R.F. & Gino, F. & Schweitzer, M.E. & Ariely, D., 2009. "Too tired to tell the truth : Self-control resource depletion and dishonesty," Other publications TiSEM c60167a3-c3aa-4b83-9192-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Barnes, Christopher M. & Schaubroeck, John & Huth, Megan & Ghumman, Sonia, 2011. "Lack of sleep and unethical conduct," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 169-180, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ye, Yijiao & Lyu, Yijing & Wu, Long-Zeng & Kwan, Ho Kwong, 2022. "Exploitative leadership and service sabotage," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    2. Robert Cialdini & Yexin Jessica Li & Adriana Samper & Ned Wellman, 2021. "How Bad Apples Promote Bad Barrels: Unethical Leader Behavior and the Selective Attrition Effect," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(4), pages 861-880, February.
    3. Bruno Lussier & Nathaniel N. Hartmann & Willy Bolander, 2021. "Curbing the Undesirable Effects of Emotional Exhaustion on Ethical Behaviors and Performance: A Salesperson–Manager Dyadic Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(4), pages 747-766, April.
    4. Clark H. Warner & Marion Fortin & Tessa Melkonian, 2024. "When Are We More Ethical? A Review and Categorization of the Factors Influencing Dual-Process Ethical Decision-Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(4), pages 843-882, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carolin Baur & Roman Soucek & Ulrich Kühnen & Roy F. Baumeister, 2020. "Unable to Resist the Temptation to Tell the Truth or to Lie for the Organization? Identification Makes the Difference," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(4), pages 643-662, December.
    2. Anne Joosten & Marius Dijke & Alain Hiel & David Cremer, 2014. "Feel Good, Do-Good!? On Consistency and Compensation in Moral Self-Regulation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(1), pages 71-84, August.
    3. Palma, Marco A. & Segovia, Michelle S. & Kassas, Bachir & Ribera, Luis A. & Hall, Charles R., 2018. "Self-control: Knowledge or perishable resource?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 80-94.
    4. Yam, Kai Chi & Reynolds, Scott J. & Hirsh, Jacob B., 2014. "The hungry thief: Physiological deprivation and its effects on unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 123-133.
    5. Hershfield, Hal E. & Cohen, Taya R. & Thompson, Leigh, 2012. "Short horizons and tempting situations: Lack of continuity to our future selves leads to unethical decision making and behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 298-310.
    6. Yam, Kai Chi & Chen, Xiao-Ping & Reynolds, Scott J., 2014. "Ego depletion and its paradoxical effects on ethical decision making," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 204-214.
    7. Gino, Francesca & Schweitzer, Maurice E. & Mead, Nicole L. & Ariely, Dan, 2011. "Unable to resist temptation: How self-control depletion promotes unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 191-203, July.
    8. Anne Joosten & Marius Dijke & Alain Hiel & David Cremer, 2014. "Being “in Control” May Make You Lose Control: The Role of Self-Regulation in Unethical Leadership Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(1), pages 1-14, April.
    9. Palma, Marco & Segovia, Michelle & Kassas, Bachir & Ribera, Luis & Hall, Charles, 2016. "The Effects of Self-Control on Subsequent Purchasing Decisions," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235987, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Dickinson, David L. & Masclet, David, 2023. "Unethical decision making and sleep restriction: Experimental evidence," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 484-502.
    11. Muel Kaptein, 2017. "The Battle for Business Ethics: A Struggle Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 343-361, August.
    12. Anne Joosten & Marius van Dijke & Alain Van Hiel & David De Cremer, 2015. "Out of Control!? How Loss of Self-Control Influences Prosocial Behavior: The Role of Power and Moral Values," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-20, May.
    13. Rostami, Amin & Gabler, Colin & Agnihotri, Raj, 2019. "Under pressure: The pros and cons of putting time pressure on your salesforce," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 153-162.
    14. Yajun Zhang & Kai Chi Yam & Maryam Kouchaki & Junwei Zhang, 2019. "Cut You Some Slack? An Investigation of the Perceptions of a Depleted Employee’s Unethicality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 673-683, July.
    15. Lades, Leonhard K., 2014. "Impulsive consumption and reflexive thought: Nudging ethical consumer behavior," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 114-128.
    16. Lades, Leonhard K., 2012. "Towards an incentive salience model of intertemporal choice," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 833-841.
    17. Gill, David & Prowse, Victoria & Vlassopoulos, Michael, 2013. "Cheating in the workplace: An experimental study of the impact of bonuses and productivity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 120-134.
    18. Marie Claire Villeval, 2019. "Comportements (non) éthiques et stratégies morales," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 70(6), pages 1021-1046.
    19. Jonathan D. Cohen, 2005. "The Vulcanization of the Human Brain: A Neural Perspective on Interactions Between Cognition and Emotion," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 3-24, Fall.
    20. Pier-André Bouchard St-Amant & Jean-Denis Garon, 2015. "Optimal redistributive pensions and the cost of self-control," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(5), pages 723-740, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:147:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2944-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.