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Trickle-down effect of benevolent leadership on unethical employee behavior: a cross-level moderated mediation model

Jiang Rui (Hohai University, Nanjing, China)
Lin Xinqi (Renmin University of China, Beijing, China)

Leadership & Organization Development Journal

ISSN: 0143-7739

Article publication date: 27 June 2020

Issue publication date: 18 July 2020

1328

Abstract

Purpose

Conducting research on the relationship between benevolent leadership and unethical employee behavior can help us find solutions to reduce unethical employee behavior. This paper also discusses how the benevolent manager leadership can be transmitted to the employee's unethical behavior through the benevolent supervisor leadership and the moderating effect of LMX and ethical climate.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a questionnaire survey of 406 pairs of leaders, supervisor and employees, the authors use data aggregation test, confirmatory factor analysis, descriptive statistics and multilevel model (HLM) to test our hypothesis.

Findings

(1) Manager supervisor leadership is negatively related to unethical employee behavior, (2) benevolent supervisor leadership mediates the relationship between benevolent manager leadership and unethical employee behavior, (3) LMX positively moderates the relationship between benevolent manager leadership and benevolent supervisor leadership and moderates the mediating effect of benevolent supervisor leadership, and (4) ethical climate positively moderates the relationship between benevolent supervisor leadership and unethical employee behavior and moderates the mediating effect of benevolent supervisor leadership.

Originality/value

First, based on previous studies, this study further proves that benevolent leadership is a popular positive leadership among the three dimensions of paternalistic leadership that extends its influence to unethical employee behavior. Second, the study traces the source of the benevolent leadership of employees' supervisors and reveals the action mechanism of how benevolent manager leadership affects unethical employee behavior (trickle-down effect). LMX and the ethical climate provide the organizational context of the trickle-down effect and the occurrence of unethical employee behavior.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Funding: China National Nature Science Fund, 71502048.The authors thank Hohai University, Renmin University of China and national natural science foundation of china for its financial support for this research.

Citation

Rui, J. and Xinqi, L. (2020), "Trickle-down effect of benevolent leadership on unethical employee behavior: a cross-level moderated mediation model", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 41 No. 6, pp. 721-740. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-12-2019-0529

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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