Does the place make the people? The role of leadership and work climate for moral and prosocial socialization in the workplace.

为了维持一个健康和民主的社会，培养所有公民的道德和亲社会发展至关重要。同样，随着企业伦理崩溃的激增，研究人员、组织和普通公众提出的一个长期问题是：个人的背景是如何影响道德和亲社会发展的？虽然已有大量研究探讨了家庭和教育背景下的道德和亲社会发展，但到目前为止，关于职业背景如何影响道德和亲社会发展，人们知之甚少。无论是从实践角度还是从理论角度来看，这都令人惊讶。实际上，成年人一生中有相当大一部分时间是在工作中度过的，从工作到个人生活的溢出效应在心理学研究中得到了很好的证明。此外，从理论角度来看，没有理由相信道德和亲社会的社会化会随着成年而停止。然而，大多数关于组织中道德和亲社会功能的研究采用了相当静态的观点，并没有将重点放在随着时间的推移而发展作为工作背景的功能上。事实上，这一领域的大多数研究都是横截面的和相互关联的，这让我们对因果关系以及随着时间的推移道德和亲社会功能发生变化的驱动因素知之甚少。拟议的项目旨在通过明确调查组织背景作为员工道德和亲社会社会化的来源来填补这一空白。具体地说，目前这一领域的研究指出了工作环境的两个特别有影响力的特征：领导力和具有明确道德取向的工作环境。在这种背景下，拟议的项目有两个主要目的：第一，主要目标是通过使用复杂的纵向研究方法，包括有意义的样本量和足够数量的观察，纵向调查以伦理为导向的领导和社会道德氛围对员工亲社会和道德发展的社会化潜力。为了更好地捕捉这些特征的道德和亲社会社会化潜力，重点放在新来者以及他们如何随着时间的推移而发展。第二个目标是通过使用更完整的道德和亲社会发展的概念来扩大现有的研究。具体地说，我们关注道德认同、道德敏感性、道德推理和其他有助于个人采取道德行动的动力的特征。此外，我们关注与工作相关的一般亲社会行为，包括公民取向和行为，作为道德行动的代理。总而言之，这个项目将大大加深我们对组织中的社会背景如何随着时间的推移影响(或阻碍)组织成员的道德和亲社会发展的理解，并阐明潜在的变化过程和时间动态。

In order to maintain a healthy and democratic society, it is vital to nurture the moral and prosocial development of all citizens. Likewise, as corporate ethical debacles proliferate, a perennial question asked by researchers, organizations and the general public is: How does the context individuals are embedded in influence moral and prosocial development? Whereas a large body of research has addressed moral and prosocial development in the family and the educational context, so far, little is known about how the occupational context may influence moral and prosocial development. This is surprising from both a practical and a theoretical perspective. Practically speaking, the average adult spends a substantial percentage of its life at work and spillover effects from work to personal life are well documented in psychological research. Also, from a theoretical perspective, there is no reason to believe that moral and prosocial socialization stops with adulthood. Yet, the bulk of research on moral and prosocial functioning in organizations adopts a rather static perspective and does not focus on development over time as a function of the work context. In fact, most studies in this field have been cross-sectional and correlational, leaving us with limited knowledge about causality and what drives change in moral and prosocial functioning over time. The proposed project aims at filling this gap by explicitly investigating the organizational context as a source of employees’ moral and prosocial socialization. Specifically, current research in this field points to two particularly influencing features of the work context: leadership and a work climate with an explicit ethical orientation. Against this background, the proposed project has two major purposes: First, the main objective is to longitudinally investigate the socialization potential of ethically-oriented leadership and socio-moral climate concerning employees’ prosocial and moral development by using sophisticated longitudinal research methods including a meaningful sample size in combination with an adequate number of observations. To optimally capture the moral and prosocial socialization potential of these features, the focus is on newcomers and how they develop over time The second objective is to expand existing research by using a more integrated conceptualization of moral and prosocial development. Specifically, we focus on moral identity, moral sensitivity, moral reasoning, and other features that contribute to individuals’ drive to take moral action. Moreover, we focus on work-related and general prosocial behaviors, including civic orientations and behaviors, as proxies for moral action. In summary, this project will substantially deepen our understanding of how the social context in organizations can influence (or impede) moral and prosocial development of organizational members over time and shed light on the underlying change process and temporal dynamics.