When Do Followers Trust and Help Leaders Who Act Unethically? The Role of Moral Disengagement

A likely consequence of unethical leader behavior is a decrease in follower trust. However, the extent to which followers will always lose trust in leaders who act unethically is unclear. In this paper we propose that... [ view full abstract ]

A likely consequence of unethical leader behavior is a decrease in follower trust. However, the extent to which followers will always lose trust in leaders who act unethically is unclear. In this paper we propose that followers with a high propensity to morally disengage will tend to overlook their leaders’ unethical behavior, and therefore continue to trust and help them. We test these ideas in two studies, including a field study employing both cross-lagged and multisource designs (Study 1) and a lab experiment that assesses actual helping behavior (Study 2). Taken together, our results indicate that leaders who act unethically are most likely to retain the trust and support of their followers when the followers have a propensity to be morally disengaged.