Does moral disengagement predict all types of unethical behaviors?
Research has widely investigated the relationship between moral disengagement and unethical behaviors, with a focus on unethical commissions. However, many unethical behaviors occurring within organizations are acts of omissions. According to past research, such behaviors are more frequent than unethical commissions because they are perceived as less blamable, along with a lower likelihood of getting caught. Given moral disengagement is supposed to alleviate self-regulatory mechanisms tied to blame and sanctions, we propose that it would play much less of a role in predicting unethical omissions than unethical commissions. Results of a pilot study and two studies support our predictions showing that unethical omissions depends less on individuals’ propensity to morally disengage than unethical commissions.