Being A Witness or A Victim of Unethical Behaviour Diminishes Employee’s Trust in Organisations

Abstract

The objective of the paper was to explore the relation between unethical behaviour in organisations and the level of trust in these organisations on the part of witnesses and victims of an unethical action in Polish companies. The study was based on a survey conducted on a group of 309 respondents in Poland. We hypothesized that employees who were being either a victim or a witness of unethical actions had lower trust in the organisation. Our research showed that there are unethical practices in Polish companies that are either experienced or witnessed, most likely driven by humiliation and depreciation and the demonstrating of the power position by people in charge. In large part, the results confirmed the hypothesis, especially in the cases of victims; however, in the case of witnesses, these results differed from expected, showing the increase of trust in organisations in some aspects.