Dangerous Expectations: Breaking Rules to Resolve Cognitive Dissonance Celia Moore S. Wiley Wakeman Francesca Gino Working Paper 15-012 August 25, 2014 Copyright © 2014 by Celia Moore, S. Wiley Wakeman, and Francesca Gino Working papers are in draft form. This working paper is distributed for purposes of comment and discussion only. It may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Copies of working papers are available from the author. Running Head: DANGEROUS EXPECTATIONS DANGEROUS EXPECTATIONS: BREAKING RULES TO RESOLVE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE Celia Moore London Business School Regent’s Park London, NW1 4SA Tel: +44 (0) 20 7000 8931
[email protected] S. Wiley Wakeman London Business School
[email protected] Francesca Gino Harvard Business School Harvard University, Baker Library Boston, MA 02163 Tel: +1 617 495 0875
[email protected] WORKING PAPER – August 25, 2014 – Please do not cite or circulate without permission The authors greatly appreciate the support of London Business School for their financial support of this research. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the International Workshop on Organizational Justice and Business Ethics at Toulouse, France, the Annual Conference of the Society of Judgment and Decision Making in Toronto, Canada, the Excellence in Ethics Conference at the University of Notre Dame, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Please address correspondence to
[email protected]. DANGEROUS EXPECTATIONS DANGEROUS EXPECTATIONS: BREAKING RULES TO RESOLVE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE Abstract When entering task performance contexts we generally have expectations about both the task and how well we will perform on it. When those expectations go unmet, we experience psychological discomfort (cognitive dissonance), which we are then motivated to resolve.