Exploring the reciprocal relationship between reflective and behavioural moral self‐efficacy: An agentic perspective to hinder moral disengagement at work

Abstract

Moral self-efficacy refers to individuals' beliefs in their capability to effectively mobilise motivation, cognitive resources and strategic actions to achieve moral performance particularly in challenging situations. We adopt the conceptualization of moral self-efficacy that encompasses both self-reflective and behavioural components. The self-reflective dimension pertains to one's perceived capability to reflect on past moral lapses, while the behavioural dimension involves one's perceived capability to regulate future moral conduct. The study aims to explore moral self-efficacy as a “dynamic” process unfolding over time, focusing on the reciprocal influence between its self-reflective and behavioural dimensions in hindering the development of moral disengagement. Utilising a three-wave design with a sample of 1308 employees (50% females) at Time 1 results of a structural equation model support the hypothesized interplay between self-reflective and behavioural moral self-efficacy over time. In addition, our findings partly support our hypothesized relationships between moral self-efficacy dimensions and moral disengagement: self-reflective moral self-efficacy directly and negatively influenced the development of moral disengagement over time, while behavioural moral self-efficacy negative influenced it only indirectly through self-reflective moral self-efficacy.