Scientific journal paper Q1
Prosocial employee behavior: The dynamics of purpose, public accountability and hypocrisy
Stewart Clegg (Clegg, S.); Miguel Pina e Cunha (Pina e Cunha, M.); Arménio Rego (Rego, A.); Bobby Banerjee (Banerjee, B.); António Cunha Meneses Abrantes (Abrantes, A. C. M.);
Journal Title
Scandinavian Journal of Management
Year (definitive publication)
N/A
Language
English
Country
United States of America
More Information
Web of Science®

This publication is not indexed in Web of Science®

Scopus

Times Cited: 0

(Last checked: 2026-07-08 14:33)

View record in Scopus

Google Scholar

This publication is not indexed in Google Scholar

This publication is not indexed in Overton

Abstract
Tensions can exist between organizational deeds and narratives of purpose. Employees who perceive such inconsistencies may go public with the aim of fostering internal organizational change oriented towards aligning rhetoric and reality. In doing so, they engage in a distinct form of prosocial behavior not yet fully examined in existing literature: societal-oriented prosocial behavior (SOPB) This behavior may be initiated through multiple motivational pathways – identification-repair, moral conviction, hypocrisy-aversion, or strategic calculation – all sharing four defining attributes: (1) employees adopting an external, public stance on (2), a societal-relevant issue with the aim of (3), promoting internal organizational change aligning organizational actions that are consistent with prior statements of purpose, thereby (4) signaling both their allegiance to and dissent from organizational practice. This paper explores both the distinctiveness of these motivational pathways and the specific content of employee societal-oriented prosocial behaviors.
Acknowledgements
--
Keywords
Prosocial behaviors,Societal orientation,Organizational purpose organizational hypocrisy
  • Psychology - Social Sciences
  • Economics and Business - Social Sciences

With the objective to increase the research activity directed towards the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the possibility of associating scientific publications with the Sustainable Development Goals is now available in Ciência_Iscte. These are the Sustainable Development Goals identified by the author(s) for this publication. For more detailed information on the Sustainable Development Goals, click here.