This study examined the relationship between CEO ethical leadership and corporate social responsibility by focusing on the mediating role of organizational ethical culture and the moderating role of managerial discretion. Based on a sample of 242 domestic Chinese firms, we found that CEO ethical leadership positively influences corporate social responsibility via organizational ethical culture. In addition, moderated path analysis indicated that CEO founder status strengthens while firm size weakens the direct effect of CEO ethical leadership on organizational ethical culture and (...) its indirect effect on corporate social responsibility. Theoretical and managerial implications of these results are discussed. (shrink)

In this study, we examined the relationship between workplace negative gossip, as perceived by the targets, and proactive behavior by focusing on the mediating role of the target’s emotional exhaustion and the moderating role of the target’s traditionality. Our results from dyadic data on 234 supervisor–subordinate relationships in China revealed that workplace negative gossip was negatively related to proactive behavior; emotional exhaustion mediated this relationship; and traditionality strengthened both the relationship between workplace negative gossip and emotional exhaustion and the indirect (...) effect of workplace negative gossip on proactive behavior via emotional exhaustion. Our findings have a number of theoretical and practical implications for the research on mistreatment and proactive behavior. (shrink)

Drawing on the perspective of causal reasoning and the social cognitive theory of moral thought and action, this study explores the mechanisms underlying the association between exposure to exploitative leadership and employee workplace deviance. The results of a time-lagged survey conducted in China reveal that exposure to exploitative leadership can evoke a moral justification process that leads to increased employee organizational and interpersonal deviance. A tendency toward hostile attribution bias reinforces the direct link between exploitative leadership and moral justification and (...) the indirect effects of exploitative leadership on employee organizational and interpersonal deviance, via moral justification. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed and potential directions for future studies are proposed. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating roles of hostile attribution bias and negative reciprocity beliefs in the relationship between workplace incivility, as perceived by employees, and their interpersonal deviance. Data were collected using a three-wave survey research design. Participants included 233 employees from a large manufacturing company in China. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the hypothesized relationships. Our study revealed that hostile attribution bias and negative reciprocity beliefs strengthened the positive relationship between workplace incivility (...) and interpersonal deviance. This relationship was the most positive when both hostile attribution bias and negative reciprocity beliefs were high. The findings provided evidence that directing employees to depress hostile attribution bias and negative reciprocity beliefs may attenuate the effects of workplace incivility on interpersonal deviance. Implications for theory, research, and management practice are discussed. (shrink)

Given the prevalence of employees’ workplace cheating behavior (WCB) and its cost to organizations, considerable scholarly effort has been invested in identifying both its antecedents and intrapersonal consequences. However, its interpersonal repercussions, particularly how and when WCB influences coworker relationships, remain underexplored. Our paper enriches the WCB literature by using social information processing theory to examine the effect of employee WCB on coworker disliking and subsequent coworker ostracism. Through a field survey study and experimental studies, we found that coworker disliking (...) mediates the positive relationship between WCB and coworker ostracism. Moreover, team ethical leadership strengthens the positive relationship between WCB and coworker disliking, and focal employees’ negative affectivity strengthens the positive relationship between coworker disliking and ostracism. Furthermore, team ethical leadership and focal employees’ negative affectivity strengthen the indirect effects of WCB on coworker ostracism via coworker disliking. Our findings have important theoretical and practical implications for the literature on WCB. (shrink)

Cheating is prevalent in workplaces and has a significant detrimental impact, and thus considerable scholarly research has been dedicated to investigating its antecedents. While various influential factors (e.g., performance pressure, perceived threats of COVID-19, leadership, and employee characteristics) have been identified, the effects of employment conditions remain relatively underexplored. We extend the research by applying impression management theory to examine how perceived job insecurity contributes to workplace cheating behavior. Through a field survey and an experimental study, we found that impression (...) management motives mediate the positive link between job insecurity and workplace cheating behavior. In addition, job immobility exacerbates the direct effect of job insecurity on impression management motives, which in turn increases workplace cheating behavior. The findings enrich the literature by identifying job insecurity as a critical employment-related antecedent of workplace cheating behavior and by developing a comprehensive impression management framework to elucidate whether, how, and when job insecurity may result in such behavior. (shrink)