January 2016
Article
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

Blind Loyalty?: How Group Loyalty Makes Us See Evil or Engage in It

By: John Angus D. Hildreth, Francesca Gino and Max Bazerman

Format:Print

Abstract

Loyalty often drives corruption. Corporate scandals, political machinations, and sports cheating highlight how loyalty's pernicious nature manifests in collusion, conspiracy, cronyism, nepotism, and other forms of cheating. Yet loyalty is also touted as an ethical principle that guides behavior. Drawing on moral psychology and behavioral ethics research, we developed hypotheses about when group loyalty fosters ethical behavior and when it fosters corruption. Across nine studies, we found that individuals primed with loyalty cheated less than those not primed (Study 1A and 1B). Members more loyal to their fraternities (Study 2A) and students more loyal to their study groups (Study 2B) also cheated less than their less loyal counterparts due to greater ethical salience when they pledged their loyalty (Studies 3A and 3B). Importantly, competition moderated these effects: when competition was high, members more loyal to their fraternities (Study 4) or individuals primed with loyalty (Studies 5A and 5B) cheated more.

Keywords

Ethics; Groups and Teams

Citation

Hildreth, John Angus D., Francesca Gino, and Max Bazerman. "Blind Loyalty? How Group Loyalty Makes Us See Evil or Engage in It." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 132 (January 2016): 16–36.