Religiosity as a buffer against the impact of abusive supervision on employee unethical behavior: a moderated mediation model

Muhammad Arshad (), Neelam Qasim, Emmanuelle Reynaud and Omer Farooq
Additional contact information
Muhammad Arshad: AMU IAE - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Aix-en-Provence - AMU - Aix Marseille Université
Neelam Qasim: The University of Lahore
Emmanuelle Reynaud: AMU IAE - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Aix-en-Provence - AMU - Aix Marseille Université
Omer Farooq: Zayed University

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Purpose This research seeks to examine the mitigating effect of religiosity on the relationship between abusive supervision and unethical behavior in employees, with moral disengagement serving as a mediating factor. Drawing on social cognitive theory, the study proposes an overarching moderated mediation framework to analyze this complex dynamic. Design/methodology/approach The testing of the model was based on hierarchical data obtained from 70 work units in services sector. Within this framework, 70 supervisors evaluated the unethical conduct of employees, while 700 employees assessed the abusive supervision they experienced and reported on their own moral disengagement and religiosity. For the analysis of both the measurement and the hypothesized models, multilevel modeling techniques in the Mplus software were utilized. Findings The study's findings indicate a direct positive link between abusive supervision and employees' unethical behavior, with moral disengagement mediating this relationship. Furthermore, the research discovered that abusive supervision leads to unethical behavior in employees through moral disengagement only in instances where their religiosity is low. Originality/value This research delves deeper by elucidating the role of moral disengagement in the dynamic between abusive supervision and unethical behavior. Diverging from prior research, this study uniquely highlights the moderating role of religiosity, showing its potential to weaken the impact of abusive supervision on unethical behavior in employees through moral disengagement.

Keywords: Unethical behavior; Multi-level modeling Paper type Research; Abusive supervision; Moral disengagement; Religiosity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-08-15
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04672233v1
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 2024, ⟨10.1108/LODJ-12-2023-0670⟩

Downloads: (external link)
https://hal.science/hal-04672233v1/document (application/pdf)

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:hal:journl:hal-04672233

DOI: 10.1108/LODJ-12-2023-0670

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().