Employees’ unethical pro-organizational behavior and subsequent internal whistle-blowing

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how perpetrators who engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) feel and respond in the aftermath of such behavior. Design/methodology/approach This paper used a two-wave time-lagged design and collected data from 260 full-time employees working in different industries in China. Findings The results indicated that UPB was negatively and indirectly associated with internal whistle-blowing through shame. Perceived moral leadership weakened the effect of shame on internal whistle-blowing. Originality/value Based on affective events theory, this paper explored an integrated behavior-emotion-behavior sequence. This paper proposed that the negative emotion, shame, evoked by UPB subsequently influences the extent to which UPB perpetrators engage in internal whistle-blowing.