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Article
Publication date: 28 September 2022

Abderrahmane Benlahcene, Oussama Saoula and Abbas Ramdani

Unethical leadership represents one of the most serious obstacles to the development of organizations and societies. Although a range of empirical studies have investigated…

Abstract

Purpose

Unethical leadership represents one of the most serious obstacles to the development of organizations and societies. Although a range of empirical studies have investigated unethical leadership behaviour in different contexts, studies on this issue are almost non-existent within the Algerian context. This study aims to explore the role of social and organizational factors in shaping unethical leadership behaviour within Algerian public organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

A series of in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 leaders from public organizations. The collected data were analysed using a thematic approach with ATLAS.ti 8 software.

Findings

The reported social and organizational factors fall into five themes: social values, organizational culture, corruption, peer influence and political environment.

Originality/value

Given the grave consequences of unethical leadership behaviour, this study contributes to our understanding of the role of social and organizational factors in shaping unethical leadership behaviour in an understudied context. This can help in mitigating the factors that lay the ground for these destructive and unethical behaviours in public organizations.

Details

International Journal of Ethics and Systems, vol. 39 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9369

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 June 2021

Rui Jiang and Xinqi Lin

Moral leadership is a common leadership style in Chinese society and is of great significance to Chinese organizations. Unethical employee behavior also widely exists in all kinds…

1169

Abstract

Purpose

Moral leadership is a common leadership style in Chinese society and is of great significance to Chinese organizations. Unethical employee behavior also widely exists in all kinds of social organizations and brings great harm. The research on the relationship between moral leadership and unethical employee behavior has not been involved yet, but it is important. This paper studies how moral manager (senior leader) leadership trickles down to unethical employee behavior through moral supervisor (employee direct supervisor) leadership, and discusses the moderating effect of LMX and ethical climate.

Design/methodology/approach

Through the questionnaire survey of 406 pairs of leaders and employees, and use multilevel path analysis, we test the hypothesis in this paper.

Findings

The research results show that (1) Moral manager leadership is negatively related to unethical employee behavior. (2) Moral supervisor leadership mediates the relationship between moral manager leadership and unethical employee behavior. (3) LMX positively moderates the relationship between moral manager leadership and moral supervisor leadership, and moderates the mediating effect of moral supervisor leadership. (4) Ethical climate positively moderates the relationship between moral supervisor leadership and unethical employee behavior, and moderates the mediating effect of moral supervisor leadership.

Originality/value

First, this study further proves that moral leadership is a popular positive leadership among the three dimensions of paternalistic leadership that extends its influence to unethical employee behavior. Second, this study traces the source of the moral leadership of employees' supervisors and reveals the action mechanism of how moral manager leadership affects unethical employee behavior. Finally, LMX provides the organizational context of the trickle-down effect and the occurrence of unethical employee behavior.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 51 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 June 2020

Jiang Rui and Lin Xinqi

Conducting research on the relationship between benevolent leadership and unethical employee behavior can help us find solutions to reduce unethical employee behavior. This paper…

1232

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.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 41 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 10 May 2022

Shakil Adnan Malik, Samina Nawab and Khurram Shafi

The purpose of this study is to investigate the concept of vicarious moral cleansing and scrutinize whether unethical behavior of leaders initiate moral cleansing in subordinates…

2907

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the concept of vicarious moral cleansing and scrutinize whether unethical behavior of leaders initiate moral cleansing in subordinates or not. This study also highlights a boundary condition under which employees are motivated to cleanse their moral self-image through increased organizational citizenship behaviors and decreased counterproductive work behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is quantitative based on hypothesis testing. By adopting convenience sampling technique, employees working at all managerial levels of service sector organizations were asked to fill out the questionnaires. Being a time-lagged study, data for independent variable (unethical leadership) and moderator (relational self-construal) were collected at T1, data for mediator (moral self-image) were collected at T2 and data for outcomes (OCBs, CWBs) were collected at T3 from same respondents. To rule out the possibility of common method bias and social desirability bias, a multi-wave design was adopted and respondents were asked to provide unique keys/IDs instead of their names.

Findings

This study investigated the impact that unethical leaders impose on employee self-concept. Moreover, this study also explored the motivational tendencies of moral self-image. Findings suggest that employees' desirable or undesirable behaviors against leader are dependent upon the perceptions related with their own role, self-image and perception of leader's integrity and intentions. Leader's unethicality is perceived threatening for their own moral self-image and they deal with it constructively. This study has laid the foundation for presence of vicarious moral cleansing in organizational setup, and it is advised that researchers must investigate this phenomenon in different settings to provide useful insights.

Research limitations/implications

Due to lack of resources, employing a pure longitudinal research design was not feasible, and therefore a time-lagged research design was used to gather data from only two cities of Pakistan. However, authors believe that a longitudinal research design, with data collection from a larger sample, will provide more fine-grained results. Secondly, use of perceived leader's integrity scale to measure unethical leadership is another limitation. Although the authors tried to address this issue by conducting an EFA and adopting only suitable items, yet a new scale which is able to measure the true essence of unethical leadership ought to be developed.

Originality/value

Use of moral self-image as an indicator of moral cleansing is an additional contribution of this study, as previous studies used levels of guilt as driving force behind moral cleansing and compensatory cleansing. Most of the studies on unethical leadership as well as moral cleansing took place in the Western context and scholars' stress that culture can substantially influence outcomes of these constructs. Thus, this study extends the literature on moral cleansing and moral self-regulation by developing and testing a model in cultural settings of Pakistan.

研究目的

本研究擬探討間接感受到的道德清洗 (以下簡稱間接道德清洗) 這個概念;研究亦會仔細審視領袖的不道德行為會否在其下屬間引起道德清洗。就此而言,本研究亦強調了一個邊界條件,在這邊界條件之下,僱員透過組織公民行為的增加,以及為工作目標帶來負面影響的工作行為的減少得到激勵,進而淨化他們的道德自我形象。

研究設計/方法/理念

本研究為一個基於假設檢定的量性研究;研究採用任意抽樣方法而進行。在服務業機構內不同管理階層工作的僱員被邀回答問卷;由於這是一個時滯研究,即使是同一的答覆者,IV (不道德的領導) 和仲裁人(關係型自我建構)的數據在T1收集,調解員 (道德自我形象) 的數據在T2收集,結果 (OCBs,CWBs) 的數據在T3收集,為了排除共同方法偏差和社會期許誤差的出現,研究採用多波浪設計,而且,答覆者必須提供獨一無二的密鑰或身份證明,而不是提供他們的名字。

研究結果

本研究探討了不道德的領袖對僱員自我概念的影響;研究亦探索了可能推動道德自我形象的因素。研究結果暗示、僱員會做對領袖而言可取的行為與否,全視乎他們如何看待自己的角色和自我形象,也視乎他們對領袖的誠信和動機有甚麼看法。領袖若不道德,這會被認為會對僱員的道德自我形象做成威脅,在這情況下,僱員會積極地應付這個威脅。本研究為在組織架構內存有間接道德清洗這個觀點打下基礎。今後的研究學者或許應就不同的環境、對這個現象進行探討和研究,以使我們能更深刻地瞭解這個課題。

研究的原創性/價值

從前的研究均採用內疚的程度、作為道德清洗和補償清洗背後的推動力 (Liao et al., 2018) 。本研究另外的貢獻在於採用了道德自我形象、作為道德清洗的指標。以前關於不道德領導以及道德清洗的研究,大多以西方國家為背景。研究學者均強調文化因素會很大程度地影響這些觀念帶來的結果;因此,本研究透過設計一個以巴基斯坦文化為背景的模型、並對其進行測試、來擴展有關道德清洗及道德自我調節的文獻。

Details

European Journal of Management and Business Economics, vol. 32 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2444-8451

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 April 2023

Chenjing Gan, Chi-Ying Cheng, Yandong Chai and Linbo Yang

This study seeks to apply a dual-processing model to understand how ethical leadership prohibits employee unethical behavior through both employee deontic justice and distributive…

Abstract

Purpose

This study seeks to apply a dual-processing model to understand how ethical leadership prohibits employee unethical behavior through both employee deontic justice and distributive justice.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey research was conducted with 62 supervisors and 244 subordinates of 17 firms collected at 2 time points separated by approximately 3 weeks in People's Republic of China.

Findings

A multilevel modeling analysis was used to test the dual-processing model. The results showed that both employee deontic justice (moral intuition process) and distributive justice (deliberate reasoning process) significantly mediate the negative relationship between ethical leadership and employee unethical behavior.

Practical implications

As traditional ethics-training approaches mainly focus on developing the deliberate decision-making process driven by distributive justice, the authors' dual-processing model suggests that moral intuition led by deontic justice is equally important and could significantly inhibit employee unethical behavior. Applying the proposed dual-processing model in the ethics training can enhance the effectiveness of employee moral training.

Originality/value

Previous studies have studied the deliberate reasoning process and moral intuition on employee unethical behavior independently. This study contributes to the current literature by a comprehensive dual-processing model which demonstrates equal impact of employee deontic justice and distributive justice led by ethical leadership on the inhibition of employee unethical behavior.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 61 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 8 July 2021

Wallace A. Burns

There are several permutations of destructive leadership types. Most involve active leadership actions, but some involve passive actions (or lack of leadership). A review of the…

Abstract

There are several permutations of destructive leadership types. Most involve active leadership actions, but some involve passive actions (or lack of leadership). A review of the literature reveals a relative dearth of root causes of destructive leadership type, but a reasonable sampling of causal factors and predictors of destructive leadership results. The author focuses on three relevant and representative destructive leadership types: Pseudotransformational, Laissez-Faire, and Unethical, and scoured the literature for root causes, causal factors, and predictors related to each. He further compared and contrasted these leadership types to differentiate their similarities and differences and discussed the causal factors and predictors associated with the operationalization of these leadership styles.

Article
Publication date: 16 March 2022

Shalini Srivastava and Poornima Madan

This study aims to understand and examine the mediating role of workplace spirituality on ethical leadership and behavioral outcomes. The study used the social exchange theory and…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to understand and examine the mediating role of workplace spirituality on ethical leadership and behavioral outcomes. The study used the social exchange theory and social learning theory to study the underlying mechanism.

Design/methodology/approach

The data was collected from 348 frontline hotel employees of North India using convenience sampling. The study used structural equation modeling and Macro PROCESS Hayes (2017) to test the hypothesized model.

Findings

The study found a positive association between ethical leadership and organizational citizenship behavior and a negative association between ethical leadership and unethical pro-organizational behavior. Workplace spirituality mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and its outcomes.

Practical implications

The study brings out the significance of ethical leadership and workplace spirituality in enhancing organizational citizenship behavior and reducing unethical pro-organizational behavior.

Originality/value

There is a paucity of research done on the mediating role of workplace spirituality in understanding its significance in aligning ethical leadership and behavioral outcomes. Hence, the authors attempt to address this gap by understanding the role of workplace spirituality and its association with ethical leadership, unethical pro-organizational behavior and organizational citizenship behavior among the employees of the hotel industry.

Book part
Publication date: 8 July 2021

Marco Tavanti and Anna Tait

This chapter reviews ethical challenges confronting nonprofit administration in relation to organizational managerial practices and leadership behaviors. Through a theoretical…

Abstract

This chapter reviews ethical challenges confronting nonprofit administration in relation to organizational managerial practices and leadership behaviors. Through a theoretical model of nonprofit-specific toxic leadership, it reviews the dynamics of destructive leaders, susceptible followers, and conducive environments in cases of unethical and corrupt nonprofit organizational behaviors. It provides a case for prioritizing oversight responsibilities of the board of directors, board supervision, promoting ethical culture in organizational leadership, and implementing policies for addressing destructive and corrupt nonprofit leaders. It reflects on how nonprofit toxic leadership primarily erodes public trust in the nonprofit sector and concludes with practical recommendations for recentering positive behaviors congruent with the nonprofit's social and public good mission.

Details

Destructive Leadership and Management Hypocrisy
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-180-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 June 2020

Hui-Hsien Hsieh, Hao-Hsin Hsu, Kuo-Yang Kao and Chih-Chieh Wang

The purpose of this study is to understand how ethical leadership and coworker ethical behavior will influence employee unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). In particular…

2713

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to understand how ethical leadership and coworker ethical behavior will influence employee unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). In particular, the authors examine the mediating effect of moral disengagement on the relationship between ethical leadership and UPB and also investigate the moderating effect of coworker ethical behavior on the aforementioned effect.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 251 employee–coworker dyads from five organizations in Taiwan at two time points. Moderated mediation analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The results show that moral disengagement mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and employee UPB. Moreover, the results show that coworker ethical behavior moderates the relationship between moral disengagement and employee UPB, as well as the mediated relationship between ethical leadership and employee UPB via moral disengagement. Specifically, both the moral disengagement–UPB relationship and the ethical leadership–moral disengagement–UPB relationship become weaker when coworker ethical behavior is high.

Practical implications

The results highlight the importance of creating an ethical work environment to get everyone behaving ethically in the workplace, because nurturing an ethical atmosphere in organizations will be useful in reducing the occurrence of UPB even for those who have high levels of moral disengagement.

Originality/value

This study shows that coworkers matter morally as much as leaders, demonstrating the importance of social influence from coworkers in organizations.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 41 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 March 2021

Aneeq Inam, Jo Ann Ho, Siew Imm Ng and Rosmah Mohamed

Leadership styles appear to influence unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB), but there has been little empirical research on employees' ethical behavior as an outcome of…

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Abstract

Purpose

Leadership styles appear to influence unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB), but there has been little empirical research on employees' ethical behavior as an outcome of responsible leadership. This study examines the positive effect of responsible leadership on unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) via the mediator, leader–member exchange (LMX).

Design/methodology/approach

Responses from 200 full-time working employees in Pakistan were collected in two waves, and structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The results indicated that LMX mediated the relationship between responsible leadership and UPB. Our research also yielded a negative relationship between responsible leadership and employees' willingness to engage in UPB and between LMX and UPB. In addition, the mediation and direct relationship results were stronger for employees who spent more than seven years in the organization as compared to those with less than seven years.

Research limitations/implications

The leader's responsible behavior trickles down to the subordinates and encourages their employees to behave responsibly too. We also showed that responsible leadership influenced employees’ UPB engagement through LMX.

Practical implications

By adopting a responsible leadership style through training practices and appraisal tools, organizations may increase quality exchange relationship between leader and subordinates, which will reduce UPB.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the few empirical studies which have examined the relationship between responsible leadership, LMX and UPB. The results from our study help to enhance findings from earlier studies on the antecedents of UPB. Contrary to previous studies, our study also shows that LMX can lead to ethical behavior i.e. reduce UPB.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 42 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

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