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Article
| Journal of Applied Psychology
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2012
Does Power Corrupt or Enable: Moral Identity, Power and Self-Serving Behavior
by
K.A. DeCelles, D.S. DeRue, J.D. Margolis and T.L. Ceranic
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Abstract
Does power corrupt a moral identity, or does it enable a moral identity to emerge? Drawing from the power literature, we propose that the psychological experience of power, although often associated with promoting self-interest, is associated with greater self-interest only in the presence of a weak moral identity. Furthermore, we propose that the psychological experience of power is associated with less self-interest in the presence of a strong moral identity. Across a field survey of working adults and in a lab experiment, individuals with a strong moral identity were less likely to act in self-interest, yet individuals with a weak moral identity were more likely to act in self-interest, when subjectively experiencing power. Finally, we predict and demonstrate an explanatory mechanism behind this effect: the psychological experience of power enhances moral awareness among those with a strong moral identity, yet decreases the moral awareness among those with a weak moral identity. In turn, individuals' moral awareness affects how they behave in relation to their self-interest.
Keywords: Power;
moral identity;
self-interested behavior;
moral awareness;
commons dilemma;