I suppose I'm glad this research was done because it puts some real data behind the phenomenon but anyone who's ever worked a job anywhere will recognize this pattern of accountability laundering.

The simplest form is when Alice works for Bob. Alice pretends that she's not cheating despite given a directive to do so by Bob and Bob pretends that he doesn't know that Alice is cheating. Alice is only accountable to Bob who is in on it and Bob is accountable to no one because Alice has always been acting alone.