View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Kent Academic Repository Running head: WHEN LEADERS BEHAVE BADLY 1 Bribery, Blackmail, and the Double Standard for Leader Transgressions Georgina Randsley de Moura Dominic Abrams Published version available Randsley de Moura, G., & Abrams, D. (2013). Bribery, blackmail, and the double standard for leader transgressions. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 17(1), 43. Author Note: Georgina Randsley de Moura and Dominic Abrams, Centre for the Study of Group Processes, School of Psychology, University of Kent. Acknowledgements: We are grateful to members of GroupLab at the Centre for the Study of Group Processes for comments on the design of this research. Correspondence should be directed to Georgina Randsley de Moura, School of Psychology, Centre for the Study of Group Processes, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NP, UK. Email
[email protected] Word count 4814 WHEN LEADERS BEHAVE BADLY 2 Abstract How does a person’s leadership or membership role within a group affect how others judge their transgressions? Participants evaluated either a leader or a regular member of either an ingroup or an outgroup who transgressed by engaging in either bribery (Experiment 1) or blackmail (Experiment 2). In both experiments transgressors were judged less punitively if they were ingroup leaders than ingroup members, outgroup members or outgroup leaders. The severity of the transgression and whether it served group interests did not alter this effect, which shows that people may apply a double standard to an ingroup leader’s transgressions. Implications are discussed for the spread of corruption among leaders and followers.