Moral Burden of Bottom-Line Pursuits: How and When Perceptions of Top Management Bottom-Line Mentality Inhibit Supervisors’ Ethical Leadership Practices

Rebecca L. Greenbaum (), Mayowa Babalola, Matthew J. Quade, Liang Guo and Yun Chung Kim
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Rebecca L. Greenbaum: Rutgers University
Mayowa Babalola: United Arab Emirates University
Matthew J. Quade: Baylor University
Liang Guo: Shandong University at Weihai
Yun Chung Kim: Oklahoma State University

Journal of Business Ethics, 2021, vol. 174, issue 1, No 6, 109-123

Abstract: Abstract Drawing on theoretical work on humans’ adaptive capacity, we propose that supervisors’ perception of top management’s high bottom-line mentality (BLM) has a dysfunctional effect on their ethical leadership practices. Specifically, we suggest that these perceptions hinder supervisors’ empathy, which eventuates in less ethical leadership practices. We also investigate, in a first-stage moderated mediation model, how supervisors high in trait mindfulness are resistant to the ill effects of perceptions of top management’s high BLM. Supervisors high (versus low) in this trait are less likely to respond to perceptions of top management’s high BLM with reduced empathy that then hinders ethical leadership. Results from a multi-wave, multi-source sample of working adults from the Chinese high technology industry provide general support for our theoretical model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: Bottom-line mentality; Ethical leadership; Empathy; Trait mindfulness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-020-04546-w

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