The dissertation abstract and reflection commentary present the work of Dr. Maryam Kouchaki. The abstract provides an overview of research examining the role of professional identities on ethical behavior. Across a number of studies, this work demonstrates that professionalism, either measured or manipulated, can increase individuals’ unethical behaviors. This dissertation extends prior work on professionalism by examining its psychology and shedding new light on importance of its meanings in driving individuals’ behaviors. Below, the author discusses the reasons for why professionals (...) may engage in unethical behaviors. Finally, the reflection commentary provides insights about the author’s journey as a PhD student. (shrink)

Business ethics research has long examined the dichotomy between remaining silent or reporting ethical misconduct to a third party. Little is known, however, about ethical conversations within a work group after observing misconduct. Specifically, we do not know how many members of their work group individuals choose to communicate with. These conversations could have important implications for creating an ethical workplace. We propose that psychological standing is an important driver of individuals’ decisions not to remain silent and to instead raise (...) moral concerns with a greater number of others in their work group. In addition, integrating existing work on structural power, psychological standing, and the bystander effect, we develop a moderated mediation model with both structural power position and work group size as contextual drivers of psychological standing. Our model is supported across four studies using different designs and methodological approaches. Our results contribute to the understanding of when and why individuals raise moral concerns, and they provide insights into how an ethical context is created in organizations. (shrink)

Whereas previous research on ego depletion and ethics suggests that employees who are depleted of their self-control resources are more likely to engage in unethical behavior, our current research focuses on how observers perceive and react to depleted employees’ unethical behavior. Integrating ego depletion and attribution theories, we hypothesize and find that observers judge depleted employees’ unethical behavior more leniently than non-depleted employees as a result of lower levels of perceived intentionality. These perceptions in turn lead to lower levels of (...) punishment. Results further suggest that not all types of depletion lead to the same effects on observers’ lenient moral judgments—depletion due to externally imposed reasons are more likely to result in lenient moral judgment, compared to depletion due to internally imposed reasons. (shrink)