The vigilante identity and organizations

Fan Xuan Chen, Maja Graso, Karl Aquino, Lily Lin, Joey T. Cheng, Katherine DeCelles and Abhijeet K. Vadera

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2022, vol. 170, issue C

Abstract: We test the theoretical and practical utility of the vigilante identity, a self-perception of being the kind of person who monitors their environment for signs of norm violations, and who punishes the perceived norm violator, without formal authority. We develop and validate a measure of the vigilante identity scale (VIS) and demonstrate the scale’s incremental predictive validity above and beyond seemingly related constructs (Studies 1 – 2e). We show that the VIS predicts hypervigilance towards organizational wrongdoing (Studies 2 and 4), punishment intentions and behavior in and of organizations (Studies 3 and 4) as well as in the wider community (Study 1), and is activated under organizational justice failure conditions (Study 3). We maintain that vigilantes can impact organizations and society from both inside and outside organizational walls and we discuss theoretical implications for scholarship on vigilantes, as well as on morality, social norms, and third-party punishment in organizations.

Keywords: Vigilantism; Identity; Punishment; Social order; Justice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:170:y:2022:i:c:s0749597822000206

DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2022.104136

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