What Causes Unethical Behavior? A Meta‐Analysis to Set an Agenda for Public Administration Research

• Author: Nicola Belle,Paola Cantarelli
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12714
• Published date: 01 May 2017
• Date: 01 May 2017

What Causes Unethical Behavior? A Meta-Analysis to Set an Agenda for Public Administration Research 327

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 77, Iss. 3, pp. 327–339. © 2017 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12714.

Paola Cantarelli holds a postdoctoral

position in the Department of Policy

Analysis and Public Management at Bocconi

University in Milan, Italy. Her research

focuses on work motivation and cognitive

biases.

E-mail: paola.cantarelli@unibocconi.it

Nicola Belle is assistant professor in the

Department of Policy Analysis and Public

Management at Bocconi University in Milan,

Italy. His research focuses on cognitive

biases in managerial decision making, work

motivation, job design, and leadership.

E-mail: nicola.belle@unibocconi.it

Public

Administration

and the

Disciplines

& Research

Synthesis

Abstract : This article uses meta-analysis to synthesize 137 experiments in 73 articles on the causes of unethical behav-

ior. Results show that exposure to in-group members who misbehave or to others who benefit from unethical actions,

greed, egocentrism, self-justification, exposure to incremental dishonesty, loss aversion, challenging performance goals,

or time pressure increase unethical behavior. In contrast, monitoring of employees, moral reminders, and individuals’

willingness to maintain a positive self-view decrease unethical conduct. Findings on the effect of self-control depletion

on unethical behavior are mixed. Results also present subgroup analyses and several measures of study heterogeneity and

likelihood of publication bias. The implications are of interest to both scholars and practitioners. The article concludes

by discussing which of the factors analyzed should gain prominence in public administration research and uncovering

several unexplored causes of unethical behavior.

Rosemary O’Leary, Editor, Public Administration and the Disciplines

Michael McGuire, Editor, Research Synthesis

Nicola Belle

Paola Cantarelli

Bocconi University, Italy

What Causes Unethical Behavior?

A Meta-Analysis to Set an Agenda for

Public Administration Research

A dherence to the highest standards of

ethical conduct is inherent in the mission

of government organizations, the purpose

of which is to serve the public interest. Indeed, a

long-standing tradition in the public administration

literature suggests that ethics and morality are

two founding principles of civil service. Using

normative approaches, scholars have specified

what civil servants should do and how they

should behave (e.g., Cooper 2012 ; Perry 2015 ;

Pugh 1991 ; Rainey 2009 ; Rohr 1986 , 1998 ).

The members of the American Society for Public

Administration (ASPA) have committed themselves

to the demonstration of personal integrity and the

promotion of ethical organizations, two principles

in the Code of Ethics approved by the ASPA

National Council in 2013 (ASPA 2016; Svara

2014 ). Nevertheless, daily news uncovers major

and minor acts of dishonesty by public officials.

The relevance of this concern is demonstrated

by the fact that one stream of research in public

administration is focused on investigating

administrative evil and how it threatens traditional

public values (e.g., Adams and Balfour 2015 ).

Despite the importance of ethics in government,

which remains “at the heart of what we are about

as a professional field” (Perry 2015 , 187), public

administration research in this area has been scant

(for a review, see Menzel 2015 ). Adams and Balfour ’ s

search for “scholarly articles on ethics topics in leading

public administration journals indicates that, at

their zenith in the last two decades of the twentieth

century, ethics topics hovered around 5 percent of

all articles. In addition, their topical coverage is slim”

(2010b, 781). Also, a recent virtual issue of Public

Administration Review containing selected studies

that the journal has published since 2002 on the

topics of “corruption, unethical behavior, and ethics,”

included only 13 articles. In short, “studies addressing

this topic are needed, important, and long overdue”

(Adams and Balfour 2010b, 783). The paucity of

public administration scholarship on ethics contrasts

with a spurt in other disciplines within the social

sciences, such as business, economics, management,

and psychology, in which the investigation of the

determinants of unethical behavior has drawn

increasing attention among scholars in recent years

(e.g., Moore and Gino 2015 ).

Editor’s Note:  e distinctive content of this article accounts for its dual identity as a Research Synthesis

and Public Administration and the Disciplines feature.  e meta-analysis explains the article’s inclusion

in the Research Synthesis feature.  e articles that are the object of the meta-analysis are drawn from

extensive experimental research in f‌i elds outside public administration, which explains the connection to

our Public Administration and the Disciplines feature. Authors Nicola Belle and Paola Cantarelli make a

case for how the meta-analysis of experimental research could begin to transform public administration

research about ethics.

JLP