Off-Duty Deviance in the Eye of the Beholder: Implications of Moral Foundations Theory in the Age of Social Media

Warren Cook () and Kristine M. Kuhn ()
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Warren Cook: The College of Saint Rose
Kristine M. Kuhn: Washington State University

Journal of Business Ethics, 2021, vol. 172, issue 3, No 11, 605-620

Abstract: Abstract Drawing from moral foundations theory, we show that differences in sensitivity to distinct moral norms help explain differences in the perceived (un)fairness of punishing employees for off-duty deviance. We used an initial study to validate realistic examples of non-criminal behavior that were perceived as violating a specific moral foundation. Participants in the main study (n = 166) evaluated scenarios in which co-workers were fired for those behaviors, which took place outside of work but were revealed via social media. The extent to which participants valued the norm violated by the co-worker positively predicted perceived fairness of the firing, and negatively predicted expressed intent to take retributive action against the responsible manager. This effect was moderated by the presence of a pre-existing organizational policy regarding off-duty conduct, which uniformly decreased negative reactions to the firing. Because social media now makes the revelation of an employee’s off-duty behavior to a broad audience increasingly likely, our results suggest the importance of developing an approach for responding to employee off-duty deviance while highlighting the relevance of moral pluralism to the study of third-party reactions.

Keywords: Moral foundations theory; Social media; Organizational justice; Employee discipline; At-will employment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-020-04501-9

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