Katherine A. DeCelles

Automatic ethics: the effects of implicit assumptions and contextual cues on moral behavior.

We empirically examine the reflexive or automatic aspects of moral decision making. To begin, we develop and validate a measure of an individuals implicit assumption regarding the inherent morality of business. Then, using an in-basket exercise, we demonstrate that an implicit assumption that business is inherently moral impacts day-to-day business decisions and interacts with contextual cues to shape moral behavior. Ultimately, we offer evidence supporting a characterization of employees as reflexive interactionists: moral agents whose automatic decision-making processes interact with the environment to shape their moral behavior.

Whitened Résumés: Race and Self-Presentation in the Labor Market

Using interviews, a laboratory experiment, and a résumé audit study, we examine racial minorities’ attempts to avoid anticipated discrimination in labor markets by concealing or downplaying racial cues in job applications, a practice known as “résumé whitening.” Interviews with racial minority university students reveal that while some minority job seekers reject this practice, others view it as essential and use a variety of whitening techniques. Building on the qualitative findings, we conduct a lab study to examine how racial minority job seekers change their résumés in response to different job postings. Results show that when targeting an employer that presents itself as valuing diversity, minority job applicants engage in relatively little résumé whitening and thus submit more racially transparent résumés. Yet our audit study of how employers respond to whitened and unwhitened résumés shows that organizational diversity statements are not actually associated with reduced discrimination against unwhitened résumés. Taken together, these findings suggest a paradox: minorities may be particularly likely to experience disadvantage when they apply to ostensibly pro-diversity employers. These findings illuminate the role of racial concealment and transparency in modern labor markets and point to an important interplay between the self-presentation of employers and the self-presentation of job seekers in shaping economic inequality.

Physical and situational inequality on airplanes predicts air rage

Significance We suggest that physical and situational inequality are built into people’s everyday environments—such as the modern airplane—and that exposure to these forms of inequality can trigger antisocial behavior. Analyses reveal that air rage is more common in economy class on airplanes, where inequality is physically present, and in both economy and first class when inequality is situationally salient. We extend research demonstrating that the salience of inequality decreases prosocial behavior by higher class individuals, showing that temporary exposure to physical and situational inequality predicts antisocial behavior among individuals in both higher and lower classes. Moreover, we explore a novel predictor of inequality-induced antisocial behavior—the design of physical environments—augmenting research on macrostructural forms of inequality. We posit that the modern airplane is a social microcosm of class-based society, and that the increasing incidence of “air rage” can be understood through the lens of inequality. Research on inequality typically examines the effects of relatively fixed, macrostructural forms of inequality, such as socioeconomic status; we examine how temporary exposure to both physical and situational inequality, induced by the design of environments, can foster antisocial behavior. We use a complete set of all onboard air rage incidents over several years from a large, international airline to test our predictions. Physical inequality on airplanes—that is, the presence of a first class cabin—is associated with more frequent air rage incidents in economy class. Situational inequality—boarding from the front (requiring walking through the first class cabin) versus the middle of the plane—also significantly increases the odds of air rage in both economy and first class. We show that physical design that highlights inequality can trigger antisocial behavior on airplanes. More broadly, these results point to the importance of considering the design of environments—from airplanes to office layouts to stadium seating—in understanding both the form and emergence of antisocial behavior.

A Field Investigation of Multilevel Cynicism Toward Change

Although most research on cynicism toward change CTC has been conceptualized at the individual level, we propose that CTC is better conceptualized as a multilevel phenomenon, acting as both an employee attitude and an organizational climate. We conducted a multilevel investigation of CTC in a field sample of 687 correctional officers in the 14 prisons in a state penal system. Consistent with our hypotheses, both employee CTC and CTC climate uniquely predicted negative employee attitudes and behaviors directed at the organization. Offering insight into how to address CTC, we found that transformational leadership negatively relates to employee CTC and CTC climate. Our results highlight the importance of studying CTC in organizations from a multilevel perspective and suggest that transformational leadership is significant for supporting both functional employee attitudes and a facilitative climate toward organizational change.

Through the Mud or in the Boardroom: Examining Activist Types and their Strategies in Targeting Firms for Social Change

We examine the variety of activist groups and their tactics in demanding firms’ social change. While extant work does not usually distinguish among activist types or their variety of tactics, we show that different activists (e.g., social movement organizations versus religious groups and activist investors) rely on dissimilar tactics (e.g., boycotts and protests versus lawsuits and proxy votes). Further, we show how protests and boycotts drag companies “through the mud” with media attention, whereas lawsuits and proxy votes receive relatively little media attention yet may foster investor risk perceptions. This research presents a multifaceted view of activists and their tactics and suggests that this approach in examining activists and their tactics can extend what we know about how and why firms are targeted.Managerial summary: The purpose of this study was to examine how different types of activist groups behave differently when targeting firms for social change. We find that traditional activist groups rely on boycotts and protests, whereas religious groups and activist investors rely more on lawsuits and proxy votes. Additionally, we find that protests and boycotts are associated with greater media attention, whereas lawsuits and proxy votes are associated with investor perceptions of risk.

Reply to Giner-Sorolla: Relationships between inequality and air rage are robust to additional specifications

We appreciate Giner-Sorolla’s thoughtful comments (1) on our paper (2). We first provide “effects of the variables of interest... controlling only for seats, flight length, and their interaction” (1). Odds ratios (ORs) for the presence of first class on incidents in economy [2.5001(0.2570), P < 0.0001], boarding from the front on economy incidents [1.4246(0.1572), P = 0.001], and boarding from the front on first-class incidents [1.9345(0.6336), P < 0.05] all remain statistically significant. [We report ORs to four significant digits because covariates are intentionally in original units for ease of interpretation; for example, the OR for flight distance in model 1 in table 2 of ref. 2 (1.0004) indicates that the odds of air rage increased … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: katy.decelles{at}rotman.utoronto.ca. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1

Reply to Crede et al.: Association between front boarding and air rage is supported by theory and analysis

We appreciate Crede et al.’s (1) attention to our research (2). We focus on the authors’ summary point: “Suffice it to say that, generally, suppression effects are considered statistical artifacts unless there is a strong theoretical explanation for their occurrence.” Crede et al. (1) suggest that (i) our interpretation lacks theoretical justification, (ii) suppression effects make results inherently uninterpretable, and/or (iii) our results are a statistical artifact.