Jolted: How task-based jolts disrupt status conferral by impacting higher and lower status individuals' generosity.

Despite growing evidence that the status conferred to individuals in organizations can change, few theoretical accounts explain when and how established patterns of status conferral are disrupted. We develop a theory of "task-based jolts"-organizational-level events that alter group tasks and goals in a way that requires employees to adjust the way they work-as a significant catalyst to disrupt status conferral in an existing hierarchy. We employed a multimethod design across two empirical studies (Study 1-quasifield experiment; Study 2-yoked experiment) and found that jolts are appraised differently by higher and lower status individuals, and as such, the jolt has contrasting implications for their generosity toward their coworkers and ultimately the status conferred to them.

Ethics and honesty in organizations: Unique organizational challenges.

Ethics and honesty in organizations deserve unique attention as the workplace context adds additional complexities to be considered. We organize the development in research into three areas: (a) the move from the traditional view of looking at unethical behaviors in organizations as motivated by self-interest to the one looking at some motivated by the desire to benefit others; (b) honesty in organizations and the different motivational tensions at work that add to its complexities; (c) interventions to curb unethical behaviors and encourage honesty at work. In the process, we identify and typologize how different pillars within the organization-hierarchy, goal interdependence, and coordination and teamwork-bring about unique psychological tensions and challenges that make ethics and honesty in organizations particularly complex.

In line and out of the box: How ethical leaders help offset the negative effect of morality on creativity.

Utilizing role theory, we investigate the potential negative relationship between employees' moral ownership and their creativity, and the mitigating effect of ethical leadership in this relationship. We argue that employees higher on moral ownership are likely to take more moral role responsibility to ensure the ethical nature of their own actions and their environment, inadvertently resulting in them being less able to think outside of the box and to be creative at work. However, we propose that ethical leaders can relieve these employees from such moral agent role, allowing them to be creative while staying moral.

Financial vulnerability and the reproduction of disadvantage in economic exchanges.

Integrative value generation through negotiated business deals is a fundamental way in which organizations and economic systems attain economic benefits. It is also an important way in which individuals can improve their financial situation. We propose that individuals most in need of improving their financial standing, those in a financially vulnerable situation, are least likely to reap the benefits of integrative value generation.

Unethical for the sake of the group: risk of social exclusion and pro-group unethical behavior.

This research tested the idea that the risk of exclusion from one's group motivates group members to engage in unethical behaviors that secure better outcomes for the group (pro-group unethical behaviors). We theorized that this effect occurs because those at risk of exclusion seek to improve their inclusionary status by engaging in unethical behaviors that benefit the group; we tested this assumption by examining how the effect of exclusion risk on pro-group unethical behavior varies as a function of group members' need for inclusion. A 2-wave field study conducted among a diverse sample of employees working in groups (Study 1) and a constructive replication using a laboratory experiment (Study 2) provided converging evidence for the theory.

When customers exhibit verbal aggression, employees pay cognitive costs.

In 4 experimental studies, we show that customer verbal aggression impaired the cognitive performance of the targets of this aggression. In Study 1, customers' verbal aggression reduced recall of customers' requests. Study 2 extended these findings by showing that customer verbal aggression impaired recognition memory and working memory among employees of a cellular communication provider.