Abusive supervision and employee unethical pro-organizational behavior: a moderated mediation model of moral disengagement and traditionality
ISSN: 1750-614X
Article publication date: 7 March 2023
Issue publication date: 8 February 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand how abusive supervision influences employees’ unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). In particular, the mediating effect of moral disengagement and moderating role of traditionality on this relationship were examined.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted a two-wave questionnaire survey using data collected from 629 employees from different companies in China. Moderated mediation analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results show that moral disengagement mediates the relationship between abusive supervision and employees’ UPB. Employee traditionality enhances the relationship between abusive supervision and moral disengagement as well as the indirect effect of abusive supervision on employees’ UPB via moral disengagement.
Originality/value
First, by exploring the positive impact of abusive supervision on UPB, the authors enhance the current understanding of the role of negative leadership in the development of UPB and enrich the research on the antecedents of UPB and outcomes of abusive supervision. Second, based on social cognitive theory, this study enriches the literature on abusive supervision and employee UPB by identifying moral disengagement as a mediator. Third, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the authors are among the first to incorporate traditionality to tell a Chinese story about how traditional employees respond to the effects of abusive supervision on UPB, providing a new lens for the cultural boundary condition in the occurrence mechanism of UPB.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The study was supported by National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant number: 19BJY052, 22BGL141), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number: 72110107002, 71974021), Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing (Grant number: cstc2021jcyj-msxmX0689), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant number: 2022CDJSKJC14), and Chongqing Social Science Planning Project (Grant number: 2018PY76).
Citation
Yan, W., Chen, H., He, Y. and Zhang, C. (2024), "Abusive supervision and employee unethical pro-organizational behavior: a moderated mediation model of moral disengagement and traditionality", Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 324-341. https://doi.org/10.1108/CMS-07-2022-0264
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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