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Trash-talking: Competitive incivility motivates rivalry, performance, and unethical behavior

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  • Yip, Jeremy A.
  • Schweitzer, Maurice E.
  • Nurmohamed, Samir

Abstract

Trash-talking increases the psychological stakes of competition and motivates targets to outperform their opponents. In Studies 1 and 2, participants in a competition who were targets of trash-talking outperformed participants who faced the same economic incentives, but were not targets of trash-talking. Perceptions of rivalry mediate the relationship between trash-talking and effort-based performance. In Study 3, we find that targets of trash-talking were particularly motivated to punish their opponents and see them lose. In Study 4, we identify a boundary condition, and show that trash-talking increases effort in competitive interactions, but incivility decreases effort in cooperative interactions. In Study 5, we find that targets of trash-talking were more likely to cheat in a competition than were participants who received neutral messages. In Study 6, we demonstrate that trash-talking harms performance when the performance task involves creativity. Taken together, our findings reveal that trash-talking is a common workplace behavior that can foster rivalry and motivate both constructive and destructive behavior.

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  • Yip, Jeremy A. & Schweitzer, Maurice E. & Nurmohamed, Samir, 2018. "Trash-talking: Competitive incivility motivates rivalry, performance, and unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 125-144.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:144:y:2018:i:c:p:125-144
    DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2017.06.002
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    7. Xin Liu & Byron Y. Lee & Tae-Yeol Kim & Yaping Gong & Xiaoming Zheng, 2023. "Double-Edged Effects of Creative Personality on Moral Disengagement and Unethical Behaviors: Dual Motivational Mechanisms and a Situational Contingency," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(2), pages 449-466, June.
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    9. Minson, Julia A. & VanEpps, Eric M. & Yip, Jeremy A. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2018. "Eliciting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: The effect of question phrasing on deception," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 76-93.
    10. Japutra, Arnold & Ekinci, Yuksel & Simkin, Lyndon, 2022. "Discovering the dark side of brand attachment: Impulsive buying, obsessive-compulsive buying and trash talking," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 442-453.
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