Vl. Hamilton et J. Sanders, CRIMES OF OBEDIENCE AND CONFORMITY IN THE WORKPLACE - SURVEYS OF AMERICANS, RUSSIANS, AND JAPANESE, Journal of social issues, 51(3), 1995, pp. 67-88
One outgrowth of Milgram's (1974) research is the study of public opin
ion about obedience norms. Extending Kelman and Hamilton's (1989) rese
arch on crimes of obedience in the military this article explores crim
es of obedience and crimes of conformity in the workplace. Random samp
les of the residents of Washington, DC, Moscow, Russia, and Tokyo, Jap
an were presented four vignettes about organizational wrongdoing. Mani
pulations included the influence situation (autonomy, conformity, or o
bedience) and the actor's position in the hierarchy (subordinate vs. m
idlevel authority). As expected, the actor's responsibility was greate
st when he acted autonomously or was art authority. In addition, autho
rities were excused less than subordinates for having conformed or obe
yed. Impacts of both influence situation and hierarchy were larger in
Japan and Russia than in the United States.