Ethical Implications of the Authoritarian Personality

Although authority relationships are obviously ubiquitous in organizations, management scholars have, curiously, contributed little to the substantial body of research into the authoritarian personality. Moreover, an observed large‐magnitude negative relationship between authoritarianism and ethical relativism, first reported over a quarter century ago, has made almost no meaningful impact on our conceptions of either construct. Perhaps as a consequence, some business ethics researchers have gravitated toward demonstrably inaccurate interpretations of relativism. From these starting points, this paper makes the case that an understanding of the authoritarian personality, with its grounding in low relativism, may provide otherwise unavailable insights into business ethics. Past research reveals that high authoritarians readily comply with authority figures that advocate ethically questionable actions, prioritize the needs of business over concern for the natural environment, appear to lack personal initiative at work, display hostile and aggressive tendencies, and often view diverse others negatively. Awareness of such findings may expand research horizons to include the possibility that highly authoritarian employees might, for example, regard organizational attempts to increase diversity or ‘go green’ as anathema, want no part of participation in decision making, and feel totally justified when engaging in bullying behaviors at work. Managers wanting intelligent and creative employees able both to think for themselves and take initiative, and employees who lack preconceived notions of inferiority about diverse others that has to be overcome when interacting with them at work, should consider hiring persons who are low in authoritarianism.