While prior research focused on antecedents of unfair events like social loafing, less attention examined consequence mechanisms or bystander perspectives. Drawing on the social intuitionist model (SIM), we develop a process model of when and how bystanders respond to coworker social loafing.
This research utilized the time-lagged design of three-wave in one large enterprise and three small and medium enterprises in eastern China.
The findings indicate that coworker social loafing evokes moral anger and norm-based moral reasoning, prompting ethical voice. Social consensus and cooperative goal interdependence influence norm-based moral reasoning through moral anger.
This research employs the SIM to explain the critical mechanism of moral anger linking observed social loafing to ethical voice via norm-based reasoning, highlighting the roles of social consensus and goal interdependence. It expands the research perspective of social loafing, demonstrates the dual-system model of moral behaviour and suggests that norm-based moral reasoning matters for coworkers' immorality in teams.
