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Why and when does performance pressure encourage employee expediency? A moderated mediation model

Abdul Gaffar Khan (School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China)
Monowar Mahmood (Bang College of Business, KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan)
Mohammad Shariful Islam (Department of Business Administration, Bangladesh Army International University of Science and Technology, Comilla, Bangladesh)
Yan Li (School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China)
Ha Jin Hwang (Sunway Business School, Sunway University, Bandar Sunway, Malaysia)

International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management

ISSN: 1741-0401

Article publication date: 12 December 2023

Issue publication date: 5 August 2024

386

Abstract

Purpose

Employee expediency is a ubiquitous, unethical phenomenon in the workplace that is largely underresearched. Based on the tenets of conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study investigates the influence of excessive performance pressure on employees' expedient behaviour via moral disengagement. It further examines the moderating role of employees' moral identity in the relationship between performance pressure and employee expediency.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected using a multi-wave paper-and-pencil survey amongst 388 sales associates working in pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Bangladesh. A series of hierarchical regression analyses and bootstrapping techniques of the PROCESS macro were conducted to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The findings reveal that performance pressure significantly and positively affects employees' expediency. Additionally, moral disengagement partially mediates the positive relationship between performance pressure and employee expediency. Furthermore, moral identity moderates the direct effect of performance pressure on moral disengagement and the indirect effect of performance pressure on employee expediency through moral disengagement.

Practical implications

Managers are advised to consider the compatibility of economic and moral principles when defining performance targets or evaluating staff performance, as immoral behaviours harm organisations in the long run. Additionally, managers should emphasise candidates with high levels of sensitive moral qualities, such as integrity and moral behaviour, and their abilities should be given preference when hiring new employees, e.g. moral reasoning.

Originality/value

This pioneering study investigates the underlying psychological mechanisms and moral characteristics to unravel the association between performance pressure and employee expediency using the lens of COR theory. The study identified the moral consequences of performance pressure and mitigating strategies to reduce employee expedient behaviour.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Since submission of this article, the following author(s) have updated their affiliation(s): Abdul Gaffar Khan is at the Department of Management, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail, Bangladesh.

Funding: This research does not have any external financial assistance to conduct survey and publications.

Citation

Khan, A.G., Mahmood, M., Islam, M.S., Li, Y. and Hwang, H.J. (2024), "Why and when does performance pressure encourage employee expediency? A moderated mediation model", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 73 No. 7, pp. 2235-2253. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-01-2023-0037

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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