Employees’ Fantasies about Unethical Behavior at Work: A Framework for Determining their Moral Seriousness

Abstract Freedom of thought is an important right. However, does this mean that employees should be allowed to think anything? This article argues, through the concept of the moral duty of stakeholder love, that fantasies about one’s own unethical behavior at work can be morally undesirable. The article then develops a framework consisting of nine criteria for determining the moral seriousness of such fantasies. Due to the moral relevance and possible prevalence of employees having fantasies about their unethical behavior at work, this article advocates for future normative and empirical research on this topic.