Unethical Pro–Organizational Behavior and Employee Performance in Côte d’Ivoire: The Effects of Leader–Member Exchange and Affective Organizational Commitment

Gary Schwarz, Ulf Henning Richter, Vikrant Shirodkar and Ebes Esho

International Journal of Public Administration, 2025, vol. 48, issue 7, 431-445

Abstract: Unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) that is intended to promote the functioning of the organization but violates ethical norms impacts employees’ in-role performance negatively due to the potential reputational and economic damages that such behavior may cause. Based on social exchange theory, we suggest that leader-member exchange (LMX) and affective organizational commitment moderate the UPB-performance relationship. We test our hypotheses with dyadic data collected in two waves from 218 employees and their 22 direct supervisors working in a federal government ministry in Côte d’Ivoire. Our findings support our hypothesis about the negative effects of UPB on employee performance and show that employees engaging in UPB hurt their own performance appraisal. We also find evidence for the moderating effects of LMX and affective organizational commitment. Our study contributes to a greater understanding of the effects of UPB in public organizations.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/01900692.2024.2367032

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