It’s generally considered a good thing when workers are empowered, with various studies highlighting how autonomy and empowerment can make people happier and more engaged at work. Research from North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management reminds us, however, that empowering employees might not be enough on its own, and indeed, it could even backfire and produce negative results.

“We wanted to know if there were circumstances where empowered employees would use their increased power and discretion to behave unethically—and we found that there are other things leaders need to do if they want to garner the benefits of empowerment and reduce associated risks,” the researchers say.

The dark side

The researchers examined the possible risks associated with empowering workers, and they focused particularly on so-called “hindrance stressors”. These are demands placed on people in the workplace that make it harder for them to do their jobs well. They include things like unclear instructions, red tape, or conflicting requests from managers.

The researchers hypothesized that when empowered employees also face hindrance stressors, this can result in unethical behavior as they become “morally disengaged”. So, they might withhold negative information or lie to make their project look good.

They conducted a couple of experiments in which people were asked how empowered they felt at work and also whether they faced any hindrance stressors. They were then asked follow-up questions to ascertain their level of moral disengagement, and whether they might engage in various unethical behaviors.

“We found that the more hindrance stressors empowered employees faced, the more likely they were to become morally disengaged and to engage in pro-organizational unethical behavior at work,” the authors explain. “In other words, empowered employees felt pressure to pay back their organization, but when they were thwarted from doing so due to hindrance stressors, they said they would behave unethically in order to do so.”

The second experiment then showed that these changes don’t just occur in a hypothetical scenario but also in practice. The experiment found that when people were empowered on a task but also faced with hindrance stressors, they were 75% more likely to lie than peers who were not empowered by their leader. When people were empowered but did not face hindrance stressors, however, their likelihood of lying fell by around 30%.

“The take-away message here is clear: empowerment is critical for today’s knowledge economy, but leaders also need to remove the types of obstacles that prevent their employees from exercising their empowerment,” the authors conclude.  “And if there are hindrance stressors that management can’t address right away, leadership needs to help employees develop coping strategies to deal with the resulting frustration.”