Recent Faculty Research, October

This article examines whether pressure to perform influences workplace cheating behavior. People often think of cheating in an academics setting, but cheating in the workplace is also a common occurrence—consider Volkswagen and Wells Fargo as recent examples. Workplace cheating involves engaging in behaviors to create an unfair advantage and obtain benefits one would not otherwise be entitled to receive. Therefore, we developed a measure of workplace cheating and used this measure to assess the effects of performance pressure on workplace cheating. What we found is those who feel pressure to perform and an inability to meet demands, then experience anger and engage in self-protective and self-serving behavior through cheating. 

Mitchell, M. S., Baer, M., Ambrose, M., Folger, R., Palmer, N. F. (2018). Cheating Under Pressure: A Self-Protection Model of Workplace Cheating Behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology . https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/apl/index