Rational Counterattack: The Impact of Workplace Bullying on Unethical Pro-organizational and Pro-family Behaviors

Zhu Yao (), Jinlian Luo (), Na Fu (), Xianchun Zhang () and Qunchao Wan ()
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Zhu Yao: Hunan University
Jinlian Luo: Tongji University
Na Fu: The University of Dublin
Xianchun Zhang: Guilin Tourism University
Qunchao Wan: Hunan University

Journal of Business Ethics, 2022, vol. 181, issue 3, No 8, 682 pages

Abstract: Abstract In business ethics research, little is known about why and how employees engage in unethical behavior, especially unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) and unethical pro-family behavior (UPFB). Based on cognitive-affective personality system theory and conservation of resources theory, this study aims to explore the mechanisms underlying the effects of workplace bullying, as a negative event, on UPB (Study 1) and UPFB (Study 2). In Study 1, workplace bullying negatively correlated with UPB where emotional exhaustion and organization-oriented moral disengagement played chain-mediating roles in this relationship. In Study 2, workplace bullying positively correlated with UPFB where emotional exhaustion and family-oriented moral disengagement played chain-mediating roles in the relationship. In both studies, perceived forgiveness climate, as a conditional factor, was found to weaken the positive impact of workplace bullying on both emotional exhaustion and the chain-mediating effect of emotional exhaustion and moral disengagement in the relationship between workplace bullying and UPB/UPFB. Overall, this study explains why, how, and when employees exhibit UPB and UPFB. The implications for theory and practices that could enable organizations to reduce employees’ unethical behavior are discussed.

Keywords: Workplace bullying; Emotional exhaustion; Moral disengagement; Unethical pro-organizational behavior; Unethical pro-family behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-021-04918-w

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