The individual and situational factors predicting unethical behaviour in the workplace: a direct and conceptual replication of Jones & Kavanagh (1996)
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Intentions to act unethically in the workplace are purported to be driven by a number of situational and individual factors. Across two seminal vignette experiments, Jones and Kavanagh reported inconsistent effect sizes for manager and peer influence and locus of control, consistent significant effects for work quality and Machiavellianism, and consistent non-significant effects for gender. Using an innovative multi-site collaboration, the current Registered Report represents a direct replication of these experiments (N = 2218), and adds a longitudinal conceptual replication capturing self-reported unethical work behaviour (N = 1747). Both replications found a consistent small effect of having a more external locus of control and male identity, and a consistent moderate effect of machiavellianism, for increasing unethical intentions and behaviour. The situational factors, whilst consistent in direction with that of the original study, varied more substantively in effect size. Our results highlight the value of multi-site collaborations and different replication types in developing conceptual, methodological, measurement and theoretical clarity to ensure future works can progress more rapidly to minimize the negative impacts of unethical workplace behaviour and improve individual’s working lives. All materials, code and data for this project can be found here: osf.io/d3arx.
Authors: Thomas Rhys Evans, James Edward Bartlett, Amelie Gourdon-Kanhukamwe, Tim Allen, Georgia Antoniou, Sara Arent, Dea Asmarani, Neelo Binns, Clara Boulton, Joshua Bowhay, Linnea Cederlund, Ramnik Chana, Yu Yang Chou, Kevina Dookheea, Gurbani Guglani, Abi Hamson-Ford, Holly Hood, Eci Balim Hostafci, Suha Jahanzeb, Kaylie Jones, Gemma Katie M Joseph, Tephilla Kemalesh, Lamiss-Roya Karoui, Soha Khan, Renata Kviatkoyskyte, Jing Xuan Lee, Rahimah Lewis, Odelia Logan, Georgia Martin, Samaneh Vahedi Moghadam Masuleh, Rebecca McCulloch, Pragya Modi, Susan Nakro, Vy Nguyen, Minh Phan, Edward Philcox, Ana B Pliego, Sasha Raman, Anusha Vaithianathan Ramji, Anna M. H. Ramsay, Natasha E Rhone-Parkinson, Tayla Rizzo-Powell, Attila Simony, Roksana A Sobolak, Maia Thompson, Believe Ujobundo, Bhagyashree Vijayakumar, Natalja Wells-Dean, Michaela Natasha Wernick, Gemma Wood, Chan Young Yang, Zareen Zahid, Colleen Addicott, Hazel Bending, Elisabeth E. F. Bradford, Peter Edward Branney, Joanna Butler, Irene Chu, Oliver Clark, Laura Dean, Yannick Griep, Tom Hatton, Caroline Heard, Olivia Kowalczyk, Alexandra Lautarescu, Tony McCarthy, Kimberly R More, John Sabo, Joyce Elena Schleu, Dora Scholarios, Rosalind Searle, Ilham Sebah, Laura Wallis, Ruijie Wang, Jérémy E. Wilson-Lemoine, Emma Wilson-Lemoine, Calvin Burns
Institutions: University of Greenwich, University of Glasgow, King's College London, Plymouth Marjon University, Canterbury Christ Church University, Royal Holloway University of London, University of Sheffield, University of Strathclyde, Radboud University Nijmegen, University of Hertfordshire, Bournemouth University, Manchester Metropolitan University, Arden University, Newcastle University, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, University of Dundee, University of East London, University of Bradford, University of Bath, ESCP Business School, ESCP Business School, ESCP Business School, ESCP Business School
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems and Management
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4411731251