The trickle-down effect of responsible leadership on unethical pro-organizational behavior: The moderating role of leader-follower value congruence

Ken Cheng, Feng Wei and Yinghui Lin

Journal of Business Research, 2019, vol. 102, issue C, 34-43

Abstract: This study aims to explore how and when responsible leadership flows down the organizational hierarchy to reduce unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Drawing on social learning theory, we hypothesize that high-level leader responsible leadership restrains UPB through low-level leader responsible leadership and that leader-follower value congruence moderates the trickle-down effect of responsible leadership on UPB. Based on the multiphase and multilevel data from 120 sales team supervisors and 426 insurance salespeople in China, we found that low-level leader responsible leadership mediated the impact of high-level leader responsible leadership on UPB. Moreover, high- and low-level leader value congruence significantly moderated the relationship between high- and low-level leader responsible leadership as well as the indirect effect of low-level leader responsible leadership. Similarly, low-level leader-employee value congruence moderated the relationship between low-level leader responsible leadership and UPB as well as the indirect effect of low-level leader responsible leadership. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: Responsible leadership; Unethical pro-organizational behavior; Leader-follower value congruence; Trickle-down effect; Social learning theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:102:y:2019:i:c:p:34-43

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.04.044

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