Amicable rivalries and hostile rivalries: Divergent profiles of motivation and unethical conduct.
研究发现竞争关系性质影响动机与不道德行为：敌对型竞争增强动机且增加不道德意图，而友好型竞争只增强动机不增加不道德意图，提示组织可利用竞争激励同时避免道德风险。
Rivalries motivate competitive performance but can also increase unethical intentions. Although extant theorizing treats this moral-motivational trade-off as inevitable, we show that rivalry's effect on unethical intentions depends on the tenor of the rivalry. Colder competitive relationships (hostile rivalries) exhibit the competitive profile documented in the literature: stronger motivation and increased unethical intentions. But warmer competitive relationships (amicable rivalries) involve a different competitive profile: stronger motivation without increased unethical intentions. Study 1 supported the assumption that participants could identify both amicable and hostile rivalries in their lives. These different rivalries evoked different judgments of warmth, but they did not differ in relationship duration, importance, or competitive domain. Study 2 demonstrated that amicable and hostile rivalries involve higher motivation compared to nonrival competition, but only hostile rivalries provoked stronger unethical intentions. This divergence can be partly explained by individuals' relative focus on the outcome of winning versus the process of competing against hostile (relative to amicable) rivals (Studies 2 and 3). Prompting participants to reflect on the value they derive from the process of competing against their hostile rival significantly reduced unethical intentions (Study 3). These findings encourage more nuanced theorizing about rivalry and identify pathways for organizations to leverage the motivational benefits of rivalry without the ethical trade-offs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).