Weber's original scenario was modified slightly for this study. First, the name of the employee was changed to a gender neutral name and the scenario was revised to ensure that the manager's request to fabricate data was clear to participants. Students were asked to put themselves in the position of the employee and indicate their intention to obey or disobey the manager's request. Students were then asked a single question regarding their intent to obey the manager's request, as well as a series of questions regarding whether they would directly challenge their manager using constructive resistance strategies (see scale information below).
Results from the pilot study indicated the scenario
was believable. More than 94% of the respondents indi cated they believed a situation such as this happens in the workplace. In addition, data from the pilot study
showed variance in both the single obedience item as well as the measures of constructive resistance (see means, standard deviations, alpha reliabilities, and intercorrelations in Table 27.1). The results of the pilot study also provided evidence that students' coproduc tion of leadership beliefs, as measured at Time 1, predicted their intention to obey or resist the unethical requests of a leader at Time 2 (see Table 27.2). Specifically, students with stronger coproduction beliefs were less likely to obey, (M2 = .06, F = 3.17, p