Ethical conflict: Conceptualization, measurement, and an examination of consequences

Abstract

Previous research on workplace conflict has focused on disagreements about work tasks, processes, and personal relationships. However, conflicts often involve matters of right and wrong; yet, ethical conflict is notably absent from the literature. Informed by moral convictions theory, we introduce the construct of ethical conflict, create and validate a measure of it, and explore its unique effects on workplace outcomes. Ultimately, we find that ethical conflict is a double-edged sword: It is negatively associated with team dynamics (i.e., decreased satisfaction with group, group viability, group cohesion, group psychological safety; increased negative emotions; and perceived goal difficulty) as well as group performance on a non-ethics-related task, but positively related to moral cognition (i.e., moral awareness and moral identity accessibility) and elaboration of information and perspectives during group ethical decision making. Overall, our studies provide a conceptual and empirical foundation for the future research on ethical conflict. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)