ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses various mechanisms regarding how social stressors arising from unethical behavior of one employee toward others lead to strains, integrating the ethics literature with the theory of stress as offense to self. Maintaining a positive self-evaluation and receiving positive evaluations by others are strong motives for most people. People strive to perceive themselves and to convince others that they are worthwhile, competent, and moral individuals. Penhaglion, Louis, and Restubog show that mistreatment by coworkers was related to depression and self-esteem, and that this relationship was mediated by perceived rejection. As people strive for a positive self-view and have a strong need to be accepted by others, being the target of unethical behavior should be particularly stressful. Organizations and supervisors are therefore urged to reduce the amount of unethical behavior at the workplace. They should be concerned with their own behavior; on the other hand, they should try to prevent unethical behavior by their employees.
