Do leaders condone unethical pro-organizational employee behaviors? The complex interplay between leader organizational identification and moral disengagement
Sebastian C. Schuh,Yahua Cai,Antonia J. Kaluza,Niklas K. Steffens,Emily David,S. Alexander Haslam +5 more
TLDR
In this paper, the authors developed and tested a model to explain how leaders respond to unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) among employees and found that leader perceptions of employee UPB were positively related to leader trust in employees when leaders identified strongly with their organization or when they had a strong propensity to morally disengage.Abstract:
Considering recent corporate scandals, organizations have increased their efforts to curb unethical employee behavior. However, little is known about whether leaders comply with these efforts and how they respond to unethical employee behavior, especially when unethical actions benefit the organization. By integrating arguments from social identity and moral disengagement theories, we develop and test a model to explain how leaders respond to unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) among employees. Results from one multi-wave, multi-source field study and one experiment showed that leader perceptions of employee UPB were positively related to leader trust in employees when leaders identified strongly with their organization or when they had a strong propensity to morally disengage. Moreover, the results revealed an important three-way interaction effect. Leaders put considerable trust into UPB-enacting employees when leaders both identified strongly with the organization and showed high levels of moral disengagement. In contrast, they put little trust into UPB-enacting employees when leaders identified weakly with the organization and reported low moral disengagement. Furthermore, results showed that leader trust ultimately translated into perceived leader justice toward employees. These findings provide new and important insights into when organizations can(not) rely on their leaders to manage unethical employee behaviors.read more
Citations
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The Dark Side of Strong Identification in Organizations: A Conceptual Review
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The effect of corporate social responsibility on unethical pro-organizational behavior: the mediation of moral identity and moderation of supervisor-employee value congruence
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Moving Beyond Initiative: The Reconceptualization and Measurement of Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior.
TL;DR: In this article, a measurement tool for unethical pro-organizational behavior is proposed based on self-determination theory and the authors demonstrate the construct validity, reliability, and acceptable psychometric properties of the compulsory UPB scales.
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“The Exorcist”: a grounded theory on how individuals avoid unethical requests at work
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors built a grounded theory through semi-structured interviews with 65 individuals who worked for companies involved in the Brazilian corruption scandal called Operation Car Wash, and found that implicit moral communication is more effective and safer for the individual who wants to avoid unethical requests.
References
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