The Moral Organisation

Scandals in public and private organizations are an everyday occurrence. Money laundering by banks, sexual abuse by employees of NGOs, and the marketing of unsafe products, are just a few of the reoccurring events that harm society. At the same time, many organizations are undertaking corporate social responsibility activities, with the clear intention to contribute positively to society. It is important for both scientists and the general public to better understand why organizations often want to act morally, yet fail to do so, and why others could be regarded as exemplary organizations.

We will discuss insights from moral psychology, grounded in Social Identity Theory (SIT), to explain (im)moral behaviour in and by organizations. SIT argues that individuals derive their identity from (ideally positive) group memberships and that their behaviour usually follows from their self-definition as group members. For most people, the organization they work for is a very important 'group', with which they can identify, and which contributes to their self-image.