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Journal of Business Ethics
Published in: Journal of Business Ethics 2/2013

01-06-2013

Taking Credit

Authors: William J. Graham, William H. Cooper

Published in: Journal of Business Ethics | Issue 2/2013

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Abstract

Taking credit is the process through which organizational members claim responsibility for work activities. We begin by describing a publically disputed case of credit taking and then draw on psychological, situational, and personality constructs to provide a model that may explain when and why organizational members are likely to take credit. We identify testable propositions about the credit-taking process, discuss ethical aspects of credit taking and suggest areas for research on credit taking in organizations.
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Footnotes
1
While there may be cases where credit is awarded prior to a conscious bid being made (e.g., not noticing that someone has credited the individual with a contribution, perhaps during a meeting the individual did not attend) these are not cases of taking credit until the claimant becomes aware that credit has been awarded. If the individual receiving the credit then acknowledges it, then we would regard the individual as having taken credit. The claiming here is passive (although letting the audience’s perceptions stand is a conscious act). This means that no credit is taken when credit is awarded and the individual remains unaware that credit has been awarded. We expect these situations are uncommon; as a result, we focus on the more common (and the more ethically interesting) cases where an individual exaggerates their contribution or just makes it up. In these cases we regard the credit taking as conscious (and, in some instances, calculative).
 
2
While the individual’s contribution must be seen as favorable, the outcome need not be: an unsuccessful effort might be recognized as credit-worthy in a losing cause. For consistency we use “work effort” and “contribution” throughout, rather than “outcome.”
 
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Metadata
Title
Taking Credit
Authors
William J. Graham
William H. Cooper
Publication date
01-06-2013
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Journal of Business Ethics / Issue 2/2013
Print ISSN: 0167-4544
Electronic ISSN: 1573-0697
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1406-3

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