Serving as an Ethical Signal: Understanding How and When Socially Responsible Human Resource Management Inhibits Time Theft

Bo Lv (), Jie Xiao (), Yinxu Zhou (), Chenghao Men (), Fengyu Li () and Haomin Chen ()
Additional contact information
Bo Lv: Renmin University of China
Jie Xiao: Renmin University of China
Yinxu Zhou: Renmin University of China
Chenghao Men: Shandong University
Fengyu Li: Qingdao University
Haomin Chen: Wuhan University

Journal of Business Ethics, 2025, vol. 200, issue 2, No 4, 287-305

Abstract: Abstract Time theft represents an inconspicuous yet pervasive form of unethical misconduct in the workplace, engendering significant losses for organizations. It is thus incumbent upon companies to take measures to mitigate such conduct. Human resource management (HRM) constitutes a pivotal approach through which organizations can regulate employee actions and curb organizational misconduct; however, its role has been largely underexplored in the extant literature. Recognizing the moral foundations of socially responsible HRM (SRHRM), we synthesize signaling theory with cue consistency theory to posit that SRHRM exerts a negative influence on employee time theft via enhanced moral awareness. Furthermore, we contend that ethical leadership acts as a critical contingency factor that reinforces the negative relationship between SRHRM and time theft through heightened moral awareness. Employing two-wave survey studies and a scenario-based experiment, our hypotheses were empirically supported. Our findings contribute to both theoretical and practical understandings within the domains of SRHRM and time theft research. Additionally, we discuss limitations and propose future research directions.

Keywords: Socially responsible human resource management; Moral awareness; Time theft; Ethical leadership (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-024-05895-6 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:200:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-024-05895-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... cs/journal/10551/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10551-024-05895-6

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Ethics is currently edited by Michelle Greenwood and R. Edward Freeman

More articles in Journal of Business Ethics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().