Heroes or Villains? The Dark Side of Charismatic Leadership and Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior

Xue Zhang, Liang Liang, Guyang Tian and Yezhuang Tian
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Xue Zhang: Harbin Institute of Technology, School of Management, Harbin 150001, China
Liang Liang: Harbin Institute of Technology, School of Management, Harbin 150001, China
Guyang Tian: Harbin Institute of Technology, School of Management, Harbin 150001, China
Yezhuang Tian: Harbin Institute of Technology, School of Management, Harbin 150001, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 15, 1-16

Abstract: Although prior research has emphasized the disproportional contributions to organizations of charismatic leadership, an emerging line of research has started to examine the potentially negative consequences. In this paper, a theoretical framework was proposed for a study of unethical pro-organization behavior through psychological safety based on social information processing theory, which reveals the detrimental effect that charismatic leadership can have on workplace behavior. To explore this negative possibility, a time-lagged research design was applied for the hypotheses to be verified using 214 pieces of data collected from a service company in China. According to the results, unethical pro-organizational behavior was indirectly influenced by charismatic leadership through psychological safety. Moreover, when employees experienced high performance pressure, charismatic leadership was positively associated with unethical pro-organizational behavior through psychological safety. The implications of these findings were analyzed from the perspectives of charismatic leadership theory and organizational ethical activities to alter the unethical pro-organizational behavior.

Keywords: charismatic leadership; unethical pro-organizational behavior; psychological safety; performance pressure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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