The Relationship Between Ethical Leadership and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior: Linear or Curvilinear Effects?

Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior (UBP): Concept and Studies Evolution

“…And later, Miao et al [40] broadened the domain of research and started to investigate the possible relationship of leadership styles of an organization and Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior. They undertook a three-wave survey as a means to determine the nature of the relationship of ethical leadership with Unethical pro-Organizational Behavior.…”

“…Obviously, Unethical pro-Organizational Behavior of individuals increases when the level of ethical leadership rises from low to moderate, but it diminishes once ethical leadership reaches a high level within an Organization. In the same study, Miao et al [40] also considered another concept, known as Identification with supervisor and took it as a moderate variable in their research. They found support for the moderating role and stated that high levels of identification with supervisor cause the curvilinear relationship between ethical leadership and Unethical pro-Organizational Behavior to become stronger.…”

“…The positive motivation that actors or perpetrators have when conducting the unethical actions makes Unethical pro-Organizational Behavior different from the self-centered unethical behavior and the destructive types of organizational deviance [9] including organizational deviance, interpersonal deviance and superior-directed deviance. However, Unethical pro-Organizational behavior is a risky behavior [40], and it remains partly negative because it is unethical behavior [14]. And some organizational scholars e.g.…”

“…By lying about the products of an organization or falsifying financial figures of an organization or even concealing and destroying incriminating documents to protect an Organization, employees may undermine the trust of stakeholders, harm their interests and reinforce their suspicions about that organization [14]. They also cause damage to the legal standing of their employing organization [40] since those actions are illegal in most countries. In addition, as Unethical pro-Organizational Behavior deviates from the general standards of moral and values held in society [3], therefore, the construct could greatly affect both the organization and people outside it [15].…”

The relationship between affective commitment and unethical pro-organizational behavior: the role of moral disengagement

“…While these assumptions may be understandable, recent studies have begun to question them, showing that in fact, employees commonly engage in unethical behaviors to serve the interests of their organization, behaviors such destroying incriminating information to save one's organization's standing, giving false or exaggerated information to people, (Umphress & Bingham, 2011) or creating moral hazards not only for employers, but for society as a whole (Cialdini, Petrova, & Goldstein, 2004). Therefore, a growing number of organizational scholars have begun to systematically explore and theorize about the phenomenon of unethical pro-organizational behavior (e.g., Gino, Ayal, & Ariely, 2013;May, Chang, & Shao, 2015;Miao et al, 2013;Thau et al, 2015). Indeed, there is an emergent field of business ethics research that now focuses squarely on the moral challenges of positive constructs, including beliefs, values, and behaviors, traditionally regarded as purely prosocial and altruistic (e.g., Levine & Schweitzer, 2014).…”