Explore the vast range of titles available.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how voluntary citizenship behaviour towards an individual (VCB-I) is linked with vicious knowledge hiding (VKH), and why members, within a mastery climate, tend to participate in less VKH after their engaging in VCB-I. The authors, according to the moral licensing theory, propose that moral licensing mediates the relationship between VCB-I and VKH, and that a mastery climate weakens the hypothesised link via moral licensing. Design/methodology/approach This study surveys 455 valid matching samples of subordinates and supervisors from 77 working teams in China at two time points and explores the relationship between VCB and VKH, as well as the underlying mechanism. A confirmatory factor analysis, bootstrapping method and hierarchical linear model were used to validate the research hypotheses. Findings The results show that VCB-I has a significant positive effect on VKH; moral credentials play a mediating role in the relationship between VCB-I and VKH; and the mastery climate moderates the positive effect of moral credentials on VKH and the mediating effect of moral credentials. In a high-mastery climate, the direct effect of moral credentials on VKH and the indirect influence of VCB-I on VKH through moral credentials are both weakened, and conversely, both effects are enhanced in a low-mastery climate. However, contrary to the expected hypothesis, moral credits do not mediate the relationship between VCB-I and VKH, which may be due to the differences in the mechanisms between the two moral licensing models. Originality/value Prior research has mainly focused on the “victim-centric” perspective to examine the impacts of others’ behaviour on employees’ knowledge hiding. Few works have used the “actor-centric” perspective to analyse the relationship between employees’ prior workplace behaviour and their subsequent knowledge hiding intention. In addition, this study enriches the field research on the voluntary aspects of organisational citizenship behaviour, which differs from its involuntary ones.

Purpose Based on the moral licensing theory, this study aims to reveal the mechanism of self-sacrificial leadership inducing abusive supervision from two paths of leader moral credit and leader moral credential. At the same time, it also discusses the moderating effect of leader behavioral integrity on the two paths. Design/methodology/approach In this study, 434 employees and their direct leaders from six Chinese companies were investigated in a paired survey at three time points, and the empirical data was analyzed using Mplus 7.4 software. Findings Self-sacrificial leadership has a positive effect on leader abusive supervision through the mediating role of leader moral credit and leader moral credential. In addition, this study also finds that leader behavioral integrity is the “gate” for self-sacrificial leadership to promote abusive supervision, and the leader behavioral integrity has a moderating effect on the process of self-sacrificial leadership influencing on leader moral credit and leader moral credential. Originality/value This study explores the evolution of self-sacrificial leadership from “good” to “bad” from the perspective of moral licensing and broadens the research on the mechanism and boundary conditions of self-sacrificial leadership. At the same time, it also provides important reference value for preventing the negative effects of self-sacrificial leadership in organizations.

Although previous studies have illustrated the dark side of creativity, intermediary mechanisms have not been sufficiently explored. We used moral licensing theory to expand a new interpretation mechanism of the relationship between creativity and unethical behavior. We tested our hypotheses with an experimental study and a multiwave survey in China. Study 1 (N = 143 postgraduates) showed that creativity increased moral credential. The results of Study 2 (N = 180) replicated Study 1's findings and further showed that the effect of creativity on unethical behavior was mediated by moral credential. Study 2 further expanded the boundary condition of the dark side of creativity from the perspective of perceived prevalence of creativity. Theoretical implications for creativity and behavioral ethics research are discussed, as well as directions for future research.

Background Bootleg innovation differs from traditional innovation in that it involves actions that either contravene established organizational rules and procedures or are conducted autonomously and covertly by individuals, with the aim of benefiting the organization. While prior research has highlighted a strong link between moral factors and bootleg innovation, there remains a paucity of studies exploring the moral foundations underlying such innovation. Drawing on moral licensing theory, this study examines the dual nature of bootleg innovation to elucidate the mechanism through which perceived organizational status influences employee engagement in bootleg innovation. Methods This study constructs and verifies a moderated mediating model of organizational status perception and bootleg innovation, using exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis based on 394 survey responses. Results The findings indicate that: (1) Perceived organizational status has a significant positive effect on employee bootleg innovation behavior. (2) Both dimensions of moral licensing (moral credits and moral credentials) mediate the relationship between perceived organizational status and bootleg innovation behavior. (3) Intrinsic motivation positively moderates the impact of perceived organizational status on moral credits and moral credentials. Conclusion This study offers a unique perspective on the moral dilemmas employees face in bootleg innovation, thereby providing a novel lens for understanding their bootleg innovation behavior.

The moral credential effect is the phenomenon where an initial behavior that presumably establishes one as moral “licenses” the person to subsequently engage in morally questioble behaviors. In line with this effect, Monin and Miller (2001, Study 2) found that participants who initially had an opportunity to hire a job candidate from disadvantaged groups (vs. those without such an opportunity) subsequently indicated preferences that were more likely to be perceived as prejudiced. We conducted a direct replication of this study with US participants on a crowdsourcing platform (n after exclusion = 932). We found no support for a consistent moral credential effect: the effect was close to zero in a scerio where participants indicated their preferences to hire from different ethnicities (d = 0.02 to 0.08, depending on inclusion criteria), and was in the opposite direction in a scerio where they indicated preferences for different genders (d = –0.50 to –0.38). With two extensions to the origil study design, we found no evidence that domain-inconsistent moral credentials are less effective in licensing than domain-consistent moral credentials and that moral credentials moderate the association between reputatiol concern and expressing potentially prejudiced preferences. All materials, data, and alysis scripts are shared at https://osf.io/phym3. This Registered Report has been endorsed by Peer Community In Registered Reports: https://doi.org/10.24072/pci.rr.100726.

Moral credentials are pieces of evidence accrued by individuals that can later be presented, intentionally or unintentionally, as a record of their lack of prejudice (B. Monin & D. T. Miller, 2001). For example, attending a gay pride march or being an openly gay person ostensibly credentials an individual to tell gay jokes free of concern that he or she will be labeled prejudiced. The authors tested whether displays of moral credentials actually work to insulate individuals from attributions of prejudice by others. Results indicated that displays of moral credentials generally discourage attributions of discrimination but unevenly so, depending on who makes the judgment. Consistent with predictions from social identity theory (H. Tajfel & J. C. Turner, 1979), participants most swayed by displays of moral credentials were those who shared an in-group status with the person displaying the moral credentials.

The current historic COVID-19 Pandemic moment has thrown into sharp relief the need for flexible and rigorous higher education that meets upskilling and reskilling needs of global workforces. Discussions of micro-credentialing predate the Pandemic but have received increased focus as potentially assisting in addressing perceived skills gaps. However, not all commentators have been complimentary about the possibilities inherent in micro-credentialing. In this paper we discuss Ralston (Postdigital Science and Education 3:83–101, 2021) criticism of the “microcredentialing craze” as provocation to consider how equitable, thoughtful and just educative aims may be met. We address Ralston’s argument that micro-credentials present an educative “moral hazard” by arguing that micro-credentialing will allow universities to respond quickly to changing worker educational needs rather than only offering full degrees that may not be economically viable or personally desirable for individuals. Rather, we suggest, the potential of micro-credentials lies in their pathways and potential to enhance lifelong learning and suggest that micro-credentials do not stand outside of the pedagogical ethical imperative that learning experiences should be positive and inclusive.

This paper questions the taken-for-granted moral portrayal depicted in the extant literature and popular media of the devoted social entrepreneurial hero with a priori good ethical and moral credentials. We confront this somewhat 'idealistic' and biased portrayal with insights from unique large-scale data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2009 survey on social entrepreneurship covering Belgium and The Netherlands. Binary and multinomial logistic regressions indicate that the intention and dominance of perceived social value creation over economic value creation is indeed what makes social entrepreneurs unique. In contrast to the extant literature, however, our empirical investigation points at a reluctant attitude of social entrepreneurs toward entrepreneurship in terms of confidence in their skills to start and manage a business, their perception of entrepreneurship as a desirable career choice and their involvement in their activities. While the extant literature points at a strong entrepreneurial orientation as a source of ethical issues (e.g., mission drift, profit orientation), the main contribution of this study lies in the reverse observation: ethical issues are also likely to emanate from a frail entrepreneurial profile. We formulate empirically grounded propositions that may serve as a basis for theory-building and testing purposes.

Companies are increasingly using cause-related marketing campaigns to engage consumers during the purchase process and highlight their own corporate social responsibility initiatives. One growing trend among retailers is the use of charity campaigns, where cashiers or technologies solicit consumers to donate money at checkout. Though these checkout charity campaigns are ubiquitous, little is known about their impact on consumers or the psychological processes involved. This paper addresses this gap by examining the process by which checkout charity appeals may license consumers to engage in \"guilty pleasures\" counter to injunctive norms. In a series of four studies, we affirm this hypothesis, presenting a novel methodological approach for providing evidence of a credits-based process. This method utilizes a Johnson-Neyman procedure to demonstrate how a charitable donation creates a \"warm-glow\" feeling that subsequent counter-injunctive consumption erodes. In other words, we directly observe individuals \"cashing in\" credits to pay for bad behavior. We discuss the ethical implications of such campaigns in light of the subsequent behavior they may license.

PurposeThe aim of this study is to examine when and why employee creative behavior leads to unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Drawing on research on moral licensing, we argue that the relationship between employee creative behavior and UPB is indirectly mediated by moral licence.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from 214 employees and their immediate supervisors, and the theoretical hypotheses were tested by correlation and a hierarchical regression analysis.FindingsWe found that: (1) employee creative behavior is positively correlated with their moral credentials and moral credits; (2) it supported the mediating role of moral credentials between creative behavior and UPB but did not support the relationship between creative behavior and UPB through moral credits and (3) the indirect relationship between creative behavior and UPB is strengthened through moral credentials when perceptions of organizational valuing of creativity are high.Originality/valueThis study responds to calls from researchers to explore more detrimental outcomes of creativity, and we extend existing research by empirically showing that creativity can promote some unethical pro-organizational behavior. We also contribute to explore the mediated role of moral licensing and the moderated role of the perceived organizational valuing of creativity to explain the creative behavior–UPB relationship.