Self-interested unethical behavior (SUB) and unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) are pervasive and costly for managers and organizations. Prior research has implicitly assumed that the contagion pattern of unethical behavior will generalize across forms of unethical behavior. Our research challenges this assumption and proposes a nuanced perspective by comparing these two types of unethical behavior. Given that UPB is geared towards benefiting the organization, whereas SUB is more self-serving, employees may be more inclined to emulate coworkers’ UPB rather than coworkers’ SUB due to stronger conformity pressure. Expanding this conformity framework of comparing UPB and SUB, we further theorize the moderating role of employee’s relational mobility within their organization—their perceived opportunities to leave established relationships and form new ones. Specifically, we posit that the effect of coworkers’ UPB on an employee’s UPB via conformity pressure is stronger when an employee’s perceived relational mobility is low versus high. In contrast, we suggest that relational mobility will not moderate the effects of coworkers’ SUB. We find support for our hypotheses in a field study of team members situated within a large manufacturing firm and in an experimental study. Overall, our multi-method approach provides both external and internal validity. Our findings shed light on the contagion of different types of unethical behavior by identifying conformity pressure as a key psychological mechanism and relational mobility as a critical contextual factor.
