Not in my Occupation: An Examination of Occupational Identification and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behaviour
Abstract
Workplace identification has been investigated as a predictor of unethical pro-organizational behaviour (UPB), a form of unethical behaviour that primarily benefits the organization. While there have been fruitful findings for organizational identification, there is currently a lack of understanding for how other sources of identification influence this relationship. I sought to investigate whether occupational identification, defining oneself as a member of an occupation, would negatively moderate the relationship between organizational identification and UPB in an ethical decision-making study utilizing a sample of 193 accountants. Similarly, to past research, I hypothesized that moral disengagement would be a mediator in the model. Results indicated an unexpected negative non-significant relationship between organizational identification and UPB. Furthermore, occupation identification was negatively related to UPB, but not significant. I also unexpectedly found a significant negative mediating effect of moral disengagement. This research adds to the literature regarding whether identification relates to unethical behaviour.