The love of money and the propensity to engage in unethical behaviours : a study in the Portuguese context

Purpose: This work aims to study the relationship between individuals' love of money and their propensity to engage in unethical behaviour. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected through a questionnaire, with the final sample consisting of 297 Portuguese individuals. The hypotheses were tested using linear regression models. Findings: The results demonstrate that there is no significant relationship between the love of money and the propensity to engage in unethical behaviour. However, there was a significant relationship between the level of budgeting and the propensity to engage in unethical behaviours – for those individuals who have a greater ability to manage their money are less likely to engage in behaviours unethical. The existence of a significant relationship between the “evil” factor and the propensity to engage in unethical behaviour was also validated, which demonstrates that when individuals both associate negative feelings with money and consider love of money to be the “root of evil”, then they are less likely to be involved in unethical behaviour. Originality/value: This work contributes theoretically and empirically to a better understanding of individuals' attitudes towards money and their propensity to engage in unethical behaviour. The results are of particular academic and organisational relevance due to the implications for human resource management.