ABSTRACT:

It is well known that people do not always ‘walk the talk’ and act in accordance with their own standards for what is right and wrong. Moral disengagement is a psychological concept that helps explain how people can selectively act in ways that go against their own moral principles, while continuing to see themselves as good and principled people. Moral disengagement can become a powerful, progressive and transformative process through which self-sanctions are gradually diminished until misbehavior is normalized and can be routinely performed with little anguish. In this talk Roberta will present the results of their study which investigates how moral self-efficacy mitigates the power of moral disengagement in the routinization of misconduct at work.

BIO-SKETCH:

Roberta Fida is Professor in Work Psychology (from August) in the Employment Systems and Institutions Group of the Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia (United Kingdom). She is a Chartered Psychologist and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Roberta previously worked at Sapienza University in Rome (where she completed her PhD).

Roberta’s main research interests are related to the understanding of unethical behaviour at work and how to prevent them. In particular she is interested on the role of moral disengagement and self-efficacy. She has conducted several funded research projects in Italy, the UK and Canada on wellbeing and stress at work. Roberta has also undertaken research projects in the health-care system with the aim of understanding the implication of workplace aggression. Roberta has published more than 80 papers in scientific journals including British Journal of Management, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Vocational Behavior and Personality and Individual Differences.