Leadership, religiousness, state ownership of an enterprise and unethical pro-organizational behavior: The mediating role of organizational identification.

Tomasz Gigol,Dejan Dragan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0251465

Abstract

This study proposes a model in which organizational identification mediates the correlations among state-owned enterprises (SOEs), authentic leadership, Christian religiousness, and unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). The proposed theoretical framework is based on moral identity theory, social identity theory, and social exchange theory. We tested the hypothesized model using data (N = 389) from employees of various companies and industries in Poland. Of the respondents, 49.1% worked in SOEs. The reliability and validity of the measures were established. The correlation coefficients among the analyzed variables were obtained using the bootstrap confidence interval method. To thoroughly examine the causal relationships among the variables, covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) was adopted. Path analysis was conducted and used to verify a model in which organizational identification mediated the correlations among state involvement in the ownership of an enterprise, authentic leadership, Christian religiousness, and UPB. State involvement in the ownership of an enterprise, authentic leadership, and Christian religiousness were linked to increased organizational identification, which in turn was linked to the intensification of UPB. With the level of organizational identification controlled, state ownership of an enterprise was linked to lower UPB intensity. Limitations, implications and future research directions are discussed.

Highlights

Unethical behavior by employees, which may result from a poorly expressed eagerness to act for the benefit of an organization, is a significant issue for management science
The juxtaposition was supplemented with the results of the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, which served to verify the presumption of the normal distribution of the variables under examination, and by Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients
The results demonstrate that Christian religion does not have a direct impact on diminishing unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB), we assumed it would have a moderate impact

Summary

Introduction

Unethical behavior by employees, which may result from a poorly expressed eagerness to act for the benefit of an organization, is a significant issue for management science. Examples of this behavior include selling unwanted financial services to unaware customers [1], deliberately delaying payments to suppliers beyond contractual dates [2] or forging the exhaust emission test results of car engines, as occurred at Volkswagen [3]. These behaviors may benefit the organization; in the long term, they may lead to serious. Leadership, religiousness, organizational identification and unethical pro-organizational behavior

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Discussion

Conclusion