Moral Leadership and Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model.

Yujuan Wang,Hai Li

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02640

Abstract

In this paper, we aim to examine the indirect effects of moral leadership on unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Drawing on Social Identity Theory, identification with supervisors (social identity) and taking responsibility (personal identity) were hypothesized as mediators linking moral leadership and UPB. In addition, we aim to investigate the moderating role of moral courage in the relationship between moral leadership and UPB. We conducted two studies with two distinct samples: one on a sample of 161 MBA students, and the other on a sample of 205 enterprise employees in China. Data were collected through a self-reported questionnaire based on a two-wave research design and analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling. Results showed that moral leadership increased UPB through promoting identification with supervisors while reducing UPB via increasing taking responsibility. Additionally, the results also showed that moral courage moderated the mediating effects of identification with supervisors and taking responsibility upon the relationship between moral leadership and UPB. We contribute to the literature by demonstrating that moral leadership exerts its paradoxical effects on UPB indirectly through its impact on identification with supervisors and taking responsibility and therefore offers a better understanding of how and when moral leadership influences UPB. A number of managerial implications are also discussed.

Highlights

With rapid economic development, while the positive change from the business benefits our lives, we witness endless business scandals, such as the Enron Incident, the Sanlu Company Melamine Incident, and the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal
Our study demonstrated that moral courage could be an important psychological strength to eliminate blind identification with supervisors and enhance the effect of taking responsibility
Future research can empirically test our research model using samples from other countries (e.g., Japan) and other regions with Confucian culture to improve the ecological validity of our study

Summary

Introduction

While the positive change from the business benefits our lives, we witness endless business scandals, such as the Enron Incident, the Sanlu Company Melamine Incident, and the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal. In contrast to general unethical behavior, UPB has been defined as “actions that are intended to promote the effective function of the organization or its members and violate core societal values, mores, laws, or standards of proper conduct” The definition illustrates two characteristics of UPB, which refers to behavior that is unethical but benefits the organization. When UPB violates widely held moral standards, it can greatly affect the organization and people outside of the organization (Vadera and Pratt, 2013), which results in ruin for the organizational reputation and harm to the interests of external stakeholders and society overall (Umphress and Bingham, 2011)

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Conclusion