Defense Date
2015
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Business Administration
Department
Business Administration
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Dr. Dana Hermanson
Committee Member or Co-Chair
Dr. Jeffery Cohen
Reader
Dr. Jennifer Schafer
Abstract
Rainmakers are employees who bring a material amount of value to a company (Merriam-Webster, 2006). Literature concerning top producing salespeople provides support that rainmakers are permitted to engage in more unethical behavior than non-rainmakers because of the value they bring into the company (Bellizzi & Bristol, 2005; Bellizzi & Hasty, 2003; Hunt & Vasquez-Parraga, 1993). Further, research has documented that the perceived magnitude of accountability (DeZoort et al., 2006; Johnson & Kaplan, 1991) influences the decisions managers will make. The first study of the dissertation uses an experimental design to investigate whether the type of employee, the magnitude of the unethical act, or an interaction of employee type and magnitude affects the discipline intensity a manager administers to a rainmaker versus a non-rainmaker. The first study did not find evidence that the type of employee or the interaction between the type of employee and the magnitude influenced the disciplinary intensity. There is evidence that the magnitude of the act influences the disciplinary intensity administered by the manager. This study also finds evidence of a social desirability bias in the participants’ responses, where participants perceive that a typical manager is significantly influenced by the type of employee being disciplined. In order for a rainmaker to be permitted to engage in an unethical act, a stakeholder must override internal controls. This could be a problem when a manager is confronted with deciding whether to report a similar unethical act perpetrated by a non-rainmaker. The second study of the dissertation uses an experimental design to investigate the effect that tolerating an unethical act perpetrated by a rainmaker has on a manager’s tolerance of subsequent similar unethical acts perpetrated by a non-rainmaker and whether the magnitude of the unethical act or the interaction of prior unethical act tolerance and the magnitude affects the disciplinary decision managers make. The second study reports that prior unethical act tolerance does affect the discipline decisions managers make. No evidence is found to support that the magnitude of the act or the interaction influenced the disciplinary intensity administered.