
HCBE Faculty Articles
Title
Who Follows the Unethical Leader? The Association Between Followers’ Personal Characteristics and Intentions to Comply in Committing Organizational Fraud
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2019
Publication Title
Journal of Business Ethics
ISSN or ISBN
1573-0697
Volume
154
Issue/Number
1
First Page
181
Last Page
193
Abstract/Excerpt
The role of followers in financial statement fraud has not been widely examined, even though these frauds typically involve collusion between followers and destructive leaders. In a study with 140 MBA students in the role of followers, we examined whether two follower personality traits were associated with behavioral intentions to comply with the demands of an unethical chief executive officer (CEO) to be complicit in committing financial statement fraud. These personality traits are (1) self-sacrificing self-enhancement (SSSE), a form of maladaptive narcissism characterized by seemingly altruistic behaviors that are actually intended to boost self-esteem and (2) proactivity, a trait characterized by behaviors reflecting efforts to positively change one’s environment. As predicted, follower SSSE was positively associated with follower behavioral intentions to comply with CEO pressure to commit fraud, while follower proactivity was negatively associated with fraud compliance intentions. Also as predicted, follower SSSE interacted with follower proactivity, such that followers high in SSSE and high (low) in proactivity reported greater intentions to resist (comply with) pressure from the unethical CEO to commit fraud compared to low-SSSE followers. Implications for future research and corporate governance are discussed.
DOI
10.1007/s10551-017-3457-y
NSUWorks Citation
Johnson, Eric N.; Kidwell, Linda; Lowe, Jordan; and Reckers, Phillip M. J., "Who Follows the Unethical Leader? The Association Between Followers’ Personal Characteristics and Intentions to Comply in Committing Organizational Fraud" (2019). HCBE Faculty Articles. 1092.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcbe_facarticles/1092