The Progression of Misconduct from Exposure to Participation

A New Era of Risk Requires a New Kind of Vigilance

Why Today’s Leaders Must Understand the Progression of Misconduct

By 2030, digital natives will make up 75% of the global workforce. These are employees who’ve grown up immersed in social media, viral trends, private online communities, and content algorithms that shape everything from their opinions to their sense of identity. Today, they already account for half of the workforce—and they bring both tremendous potential and a new kind of risk.

In today’s world, misconduct doesn’t begin in the breakroom—it often begins online. The new water cooler. The earliest indicators of toxic behavior, extremism, or workplace threats are increasingly visible on social media long before they show up in the office. That’s why HR, Talent Acquisition, and executives can no longer afford to view misconduct as a reactive issue. It’s a predictive challenge that requires proactive vigilance.

Knowing what early signs to look for—before someone is hired or while they’re employed—can mean the difference between preventing harm and making headlines.

The cost of ignoring these warning signs is growing. In recent years, companies across industries have found themselves at the center of scandals involving employee misconduct that started online:

• Legal liabilities stemming from harassment, hate speech, and threats of violence.
• Brand damage from viral content that shows employees engaging in discriminatory or criminal behavior.
• Financial fallout from investigations, lawsuits, PR crises, and lost customer trust.

Even more concerning: these incidents often follow a predictable path. Misconduct doesn’t happen overnight—it follows a progression that moves from exposure, to acceptance, to advocacy, and finally to participation. At each stage, the risks compound, especially when fueled by online validation and group reinforcement.

In this blog, we’ll break down that progression—and show how signs of misconduct can appear in specific industries like financial services, retail and hospitality, and healthcare. We’ll also explore how TA teams and HR leaders can act as the first and final lines of defense to prevent misconduct before it turns into a crisis.

If you care about employee safety, business continuity, and protecting your company’s reputation and profits, understanding this progression isn’t optional—it’s essential.

The Progression of Misconduct: From Exposure to Participation

Misconduct rarely happens in a vacuum or overnight. It follows a predictable—and increasingly dangerous—trajectory. As People, Talent, and business leaders, understanding each stage is critical to prevention. 

1. Exposure: The First Glimpse of Harmful Content

The journey often begins with exposure—when an individual first encounters harmful, radical, or hateful content online. This could be through social media, newsfeeds, YouTube rabbit holes, or even private group chats. Often, this content is framed as humor, satire, or "just a meme," lowering the guard of the viewer. 

In the workplace, even exposure to misconduct actually leads to more acts of misconduct. For example, financial advisers are 37% more likely to commit misconduct if they simply encounter a colleague with a history of misconduct. Fama recently screened a CFO candidate for a customer and uncovered a long-history of fraud and sexual misconduct in past CFO positions, preventing the continuation of this vicious cycle for our customer.  

2. Acceptance: When the Unacceptable Becomes Normal

With repeated exposure comes normalization. Content that once seemed extreme begins to feel familiar—acceptable, even justified. People start to adopt the language, logic, and beliefs that previously shocked them.

This stage is particularly dangerous because it can remain largely hidden. Someone may not act out in obvious ways, but their beliefs are shifting in ways that increase risk down the line. Subtle indicators of this shift may be smaller actions such as “liking” social media posts sharing harmful or radical ideas.

Acceptance of harmful or extremist tropes can have a negative impact on the workplace simply by showing up online. For example, an Eagles fan was filmed sharing misogynistic expletives at a Green Bay Packers fan at a game last season and his employer, a management consulting firm, quickly was notified by the public about his outrageous behavior. The man was subsequently fired from his job and he was even banned from the Eagles’ stadium. Similarly, Fama screened a school administrator and uncovered several X posts calling babies of certain races “ugly” and expressing the desire to “punch a little girl in the throat.” In today’s day and age where almost anything done out in public can be easily plastered all over the news, it’s important to mitigate intolerance as it can easily lead to scandals both outside of work and within. 

3. Advocacy: Amplifying the Message

Once normalized, the next step is advocacy. Individuals begin sharing or endorsing harmful content. They engage in online communities that reinforce their beliefs. They may post or comment in ways that publicly align them with radical ideas that would be harmful to the workplace.

This is where warning signs become more visible. According to Fama’s 2024 research, advocacy is often the inflection point where online behavior escalates into real-world concern. The number of threat-related warning signs in online screenings jumped from 5% in 2023 to 14% in 2024—a stark indicator of this shift.

Employees who publicly advocate for hate, conspiracy, or harassment create reputational and compliance risks. One viral post can trigger massive fallout—from lost clients to regulatory scrutiny. For example, the Emilia Perez Oscar’s campaign was stalled after lead actress, Karla Sofia Gascon, promoted racist and xenophobic content on X. In Financial Services, Citi fired an employee after they posted antisemetic content, sparking outrage among the public as well as the bank’s shareholders, customers, and employees around the world. Another Fama report uncovered disturbing threats from an attorney saying he wants to ‘drag [the] dead bodies [of politicians he doesn’t agree with] through the streets, burn them, and throw them off the wall.’ Across industries, advocacy of misconduct online has landed organizations in trouble time and time again. 

4. Participation: When Misconduct Turns Active

The final and most dangerous phase is participation. Here, individuals no longer just endorse bad behavior—they engage in it directly. This can take many forms: harassment, threats, violence, fraud, or public displays of hate.

This shift is no longer theoretical. In 2024 alone:

• Multiple assassination attempts shocked the U.S. political sphere.
• The murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson scared many in the healthcare and financial services industries as executives faced increased attempts of violence and amped up security.
• Workplace homicides caused 458 deaths in the U.S., or roughly nine per week.

A recent Fama screening revealed a hit list and manifesto citing plans for a workplace shooting, which Fama was able to avoid by alerting the customer and law enforcement.  

How can misconduct be prevented? 

The most effective way to reduce workplace misconduct is to prevent it before it starts. That means paying close attention to the online signals that precede behavior—especially in a world where so much of our communication, belief formation, and identity-building happens online.

Misconduct isn’t random. It leaves an online footprint—patterns of language, ideologies, and interactions that point to deeper risks. But too many organizations only act after the damage is done: when legal action is underway, when violence has already occurred, or when scandal has gone viral.

Prevention is only possible when you understand what to look for—and when to look for it.

Online signals offer critical early warnings. They can reveal patterns of misconduct long before issues show up in manager reports, exit interviews, or even the newspaper or lawsuits. That’s why leading employers are embedding behavioral intelligence into every stage of the employee lifecycle—from recruitment through offboarding.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

How HR and Talent Acquisition Leaders Can Mitigate Misconduct at Work

To stop misconduct before it starts, companies need to rethink how they evaluate and address risk whether in Talent Acquisition or Human Resources. 

Talent Acquisition is the first line of defense against misconduct

TA teams must be equipped to identify past online behavior that could signal future threats before bringing a new hire on board. 

Traditional background checks often miss behavioral risk ahead of time, reporting only after an arrest or conviction has occurred. But modern AI-driven screening tools can detect public online activity tied to racism, sexism, harassment, threats, and other forms of misconduct. These insights help hiring teams make more informed decisions—without time consuming manual screenings, bias, or guesswork.

Online behavior can show you things a résumé won’t. Social media background checks, when done ethically and compliantly, reveal potential misconduct warning signs that align with your company’s code of conduct. This is key to building a safe, productive, and profitable workplace.

For HR Leaders and Managers: Evaluate Risk Across the Employee Journey

HR and people leaders must monitor changes in employee behavior and know what online warning signs to look for. 

Current employees account for 26% of workplace violence perpetrators. Surveys, feedback tools, and pulse checks can help surface internal risks, but pairing them with online behavior insights offers a more holistic view. By screening for shifts in online behavior—such as sudden advocacy for harmful ideologies—HR can detect when a low-risk employee may be progressing toward misconduct.

Departing employees can pose risk if they're disgruntled, radicalized, or prone to retaliation. Offboarding isn't just a logistical step—it’s a final checkpoint for ensuring no misconduct risks walk out the door unchecked. Continuing screenings for a short time period after someone exits an organization can help flag the 3% of threats that come from former employees before they become incidents.

💡 In sectors like healthcare and retail, where turnover is high and frontline stress is real, these strategies are essential for keeping environments safe. 

Companies need tools like Fama’s AI-powered platform to detect early signs of misconduct—whether it’s a new hire or a longtime employee.

Online Signals Are Your Early Warning System

We are no longer dealing with isolated incidents. The progression of misconduct is a digital phenomenon that’s becoming more frequent, more dangerous, and more urgent to address.

From first impressions to final exits, employees leave a digital trail in their online presence. When you ignore that trail, you increase your risk. But when you use it wisely—with ethical, compliant tools—you gain an early warning system that protects people, preserves culture, and prevents crises.

Leaders who understand this progression—from exposure to participation—will be better equipped to protect their teams, safeguard their brands, and prevent the next headline-grabbing incident before it happens.

For more insights on The State of Misconduct at Work, check out our new research. To speak with a workplace misconduct expert on how to best prevent misconduct in your organization, request a demo here.‍