The formation mechanism of destructive leadership behavior: from the perspective of moral deconstruction process

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of psychological contract breach on destructive by developing a moderated mediation model. The model focuses on the mediating role of moral identity and moral disengagement and the moderating role of moral belief.

Design/methodology/approach

This study conducted a three-wave questionnaire survey and used 377 matched-sample data to test the hypotheses. PROCESS bootstrapping program in SPSS and confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS software were adopted in this study.

Findings

Results reveal that psychological contract breach has a positive effect on destructive leadership behavior, and the relationship is mediated by moral identity and moral disengagement; moral belief not only moderates the relationship between psychological contract breach and destructive leadership behavior, but also moderates the mediation effect of moral identity and moral disengagement.

Originality/value

First, this study enriches the destructive leadership behavior literature by verifying psychological contract breach as an antecedent. Second, this study discusses the role of morality in the formation mechanism of destructive leadership behavior by testing the mediating effect of moral identity and moral disengagement and the moderating effect of moral belief.

Citation

Wu, M., Wang, R., Wang, H. and Estay, C. (2022), "The formation mechanism of destructive leadership behavior: from the perspective of moral deconstruction process", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 43 No. 5, pp. 750-772. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-10-2020-0433