Implications of Moral Organizational Behavior for Employee Beliefs, Motivation, and Well-Being

In the first of the Work Science Center Distinguished Lecture series, Dr. Michael Ford visited Georgia Tech on Wednesday, September 26, 2018.

Workers are often assumed to construe their organizations as entities and develop a reciprocal social exchange relationship resembling that with other humans. To the extent that this assumption holds true, workers hold their employers responsible for the morality of their behavior. This presentation delves into several conditions of this aspect of the employee-organization relationship that have been previously understudied. First, recent research will be covered on the beliefs and emotions that workers develop toward their employers at large, how quickly these can fluctuate, and implications for employee well-being and motivation. Then, new findings will be presented on the events that trigger moral emotions at work, the perceived entitativity of the organization responsible, and how employees respond to these occurrences and explain them with respect to the collective intent of the organization. Future directions for research on emotions toward and trust in organizations and institutions will be considered.

For transcripts and download, visit http://hdl.handle.net/1853/60479