Does Personal Misconduct Follow You to the Office? Gender and Moral Decoupling Towards High-Performers

Abstract: It is increasingly common to read about organizations taking action against employees for misconduct occurring outside the workplace. The dilemmas involved are especially amplified when the individual has a strong performance record at work and is by all accounts a stellar employee. The current research considers how other employees judge and choose to work with high-performing colleagues who engage in immoral behavior outside the workplace. We draw on research in moral decoupling – a process in which observers disassociate their judgments of performances from judgements of morality when evaluating high-performance transgressors. Building on gender differences in moral identity, we argue that men will morally decouple more than women. As a result, men, more so than women, will be more willing to work with high performers who have engaged in ethically questionable behavior outside of work. We find support for our hypotheses across three studies involving different types of transgressions.

Keywords: moral decoupling, gender, ethics, high performer