The intragroup level: When and why reputational concerns influence immoral behaviour

Immoral conduct, such as tax evasion or corruption, can have tremendous societal costs. Public policies aimed at curtailing immoral behaviour often try to capitalize on the fact that people care about what others think of them. That is, policies are geared towards enhancing people's reputational concerns. However, research has yielded conflicting findings on the relationship between reputational concerns and immoral behaviour. In some situations, reputational concerns decrease immoral behaviour, whereas in other cases they are inconsequential or even counterproductive. This chapter reviews when and how reputational concerns influence people's immoral behaviour, considering when reputational concerns decrease immoral behaviour, when they have no influence on immoral behaviour, and finally, when they inadvertently increase immoral behaviour. As such, the chapter elucidates when and why public policies that enhance people's reputational concerns have desired consequences by decreasing immoral behaviour. • People's concerns about what others in their group think of them (i.e., reputational concerns) influence their (im)moral behaviour. • People want to make a favourable impression on their group members; having a negative reputation can have undesired consequences (e.g., exclusion from the group). • Reputational concerns can therefore help to avoid these negative consequences by increasing moral behaviour. • However, reputational concerns may also fail to affect (im)moral behaviour and may even increase immoral behaviour. • Whether interventions that target reputational concerns have a positive, negative or no effect on (im)moral behaviour depends on the observability of people's behaviour, people's awareness of the consequences of their behaviour, and what behaviour is prescribed by social norms.