Moral Symbols: A Necklace of Garlic against Unethical Requests
研究了员工展示道德符号（如大蒜）能否阻止上级提出不道德要求。五项实验室和一项组织调查发现，道德符号能激活道德意识、引发对展示者品格的正面推断，从而减少不道德行为，且不会引发反弹效应。
This paper investigates whether, by exposing superiors to moral symbols, subordinates can discourage their superiors from asking them to perform unethical acts. Findings from five laboratory studies and one organizational survey study demonstrated that exposure to moral symbols displayed by the subordinates dissuades superiors from both engaging in unethical behaviors themselves and asking their subordinates to engage in unethical behavior. This paper shows that the display of moral symbols leads to two main consequences: (1) the activation of the concept of morality and increases in individuals’ moral awareness to decrease unethical behavior, and (2) eliciting inferences about the moral character of the displayer to lower the likelihood of that person being subjected to unethical directives. Additionally, our findings demonstrate that moral symbols influence ethical decisions without provoking hidden backlash effects against those who display them. In sum, our findings show that followers can serve as a form of social influence to guide their leader’s behavior and reduce the occurrence of unethical acts in the workplace.