Integrity, Self-Control, and the Impact of Ego Depletion on Counterproductive Behavior

Although integrity has been found to significantly predict job performance and counterproductive behaviors, the constructs that underlie it have remained unclear. Personality, specifically conscientiousness, has been linked to integrity most consistently, but only accounts for a small amount of integrity’s variance. Research points to a relationship between integrity and self-control, but this has not been investigated.

The present investigation examined the nature and implications of this relationship. Results found that self-control contributed significantly to the variance in integrity beyond conscientiousness and the other dimensions of personality. Indeed, the addition of self-control to the model, essentially eliminated conscientiousness as a significant predictor of integrity. Based on these results, it was predicted that expression of integrity would be negatively impacted by temporary detriments in self-control (i.e., ego depletion).

A significant interaction was found between integrity and ego depletion in predicting off-task behavior. Examination of the interaction revealed integrity to be a significant predictor in the control, but not in the depleted, condition. However, these results are tempered by the overlap in confidence intervals between the beta weights. It is concluded that temporary detriments in self-control can negate the relationship between integrity and counterproductive behavior. Implications of these results and directions for research are also discussed.