Goody-good effect: When social comparisons of ethical behavior and performance lead to self-threat versus self-enhancement, social undermining, and ostracism

Abstract

I extend work on behavioral ethics by proposing that there can be unfavorable consequences to ethical behavior. Drawing on social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954), I find that employees experience self-threat and self-enhancement as a result of ethical behavior comparisons. A lab study and a field study were paired to test the theoretical model. In the field, data from 310 employee-coworker dyads reveals that employees who report being more ethical than a comparison coworker experience more self-threat and more self-enhancement. These relationships are moderated by a performance comparison with the same coworker. Results also reveal that ethical behavior comparisons are indirectly related to social undermining and ostracism via self-threat. Thus, when employees experience self-threat as a result of an ethical behavior comparison, they are likely to respond by socially undermining and/or ostracizing the coworker with whom they compared themselves. This mediated relationship is also impacted by the moderating presence of a performance comparison. Implications, both theoretical and practical, as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.