scholarly journals The Trickle-Down Effect of Authoritarian Leadership on Unethical Employee Behavior: A Cross-Level Moderated Mediation Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiang Rui ◽  
Lin Xin Qi

Authoritarian leadership is of great significance to eastern countries, including China. Meanwhile, unethical employee behavior also exists in all types of social organizations. The relationship between authoritarian leadership and unethical employee behavior is worth studying. Senior leaders (managers) often do not have a direct influence on employees except for through their immediate supervisors. The leadership style of senior leaders also influences the leadership style of their subordinates (employees’ direct supervisors). This paper studies how authoritarian manager leadership trickles down to unethical employee behavior through authoritarian supervisor leadership (through social learning theory and ASA theory) and discusses the moderating effect of leader member exchange (LMX) and an ethical climate. Through a questionnaire survey of 406 pairs of leaders, supervisors, and employees, the research results of the multilevel model show that (1) authoritarian supervisor leadership is positively related to unethical employee behavior, (2) authoritarian supervisor leadership mediates the relationship between authoritarian manager leadership and unethical employee behavior, (3) LMX positively moderates the relationship between authoritarian manager leadership and authoritarian supervisor leadership and moderates the mediating effect of authoritarian supervisor leadership, and (4), that an ethical climate negatively moderates the relationship between authoritarian supervisor leadership and unethical employee behavior and moderates the mediating effect of authoritarian supervisor leadership.

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 721-740
Author(s):  
Jiang Rui ◽  
Lin Xinqi

PurposeConducting research on the relationship between benevolent leadership and unethical employee behavior can help us find solutions to reduce unethical employee behavior. This paper also discusses how the benevolent manager leadership can be transmitted to the employee's unethical behavior through the benevolent supervisor leadership and the moderating effect of LMX and ethical climate.Design/methodology/approachThrough a questionnaire survey of 406 pairs of leaders, supervisor and employees, the authors use data aggregation test, confirmatory factor analysis, descriptive statistics and multilevel model (HLM) to test our hypothesis.Findings(1) Manager supervisor leadership is negatively related to unethical employee behavior, (2) benevolent supervisor leadership mediates the relationship between benevolent manager leadership and unethical employee behavior, (3) LMX positively moderates the relationship between benevolent manager leadership and benevolent supervisor leadership and moderates the mediating effect of benevolent supervisor leadership, and (4) ethical climate positively moderates the relationship between benevolent supervisor leadership and unethical employee behavior and moderates the mediating effect of benevolent supervisor leadership.Originality/valueFirst, based on previous studies, this study further proves that benevolent leadership is a popular positive leadership among the three dimensions of paternalistic leadership that extends its influence to unethical employee behavior. Second, the study traces the source of the benevolent leadership of employees' supervisors and reveals the action mechanism of how benevolent manager leadership affects unethical employee behavior (trickle-down effect). LMX and the ethical climate provide the organizational context of the trickle-down effect and the occurrence of unethical employee behavior.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Jiang ◽  
Xinqi Lin

PurposeMoral leadership is a common leadership style in Chinese society and is of great significance to Chinese organizations. Unethical employee behavior also widely exists in all kinds of social organizations and brings great harm. The research on the relationship between moral leadership and unethical employee behavior has not been involved yet, but it is important. This paper studies how moral manager (senior leader) leadership trickles down to unethical employee behavior through moral supervisor (employee direct supervisor) leadership, and discusses the moderating effect of LMX and ethical climate.Design/methodology/approachThrough the questionnaire survey of 406 pairs of leaders and employees, and use multilevel path analysis, we test the hypothesis in this paper.FindingsThe research results show that (1) Moral manager leadership is negatively related to unethical employee behavior. (2) Moral supervisor leadership mediates the relationship between moral manager leadership and unethical employee behavior. (3) LMX positively moderates the relationship between moral manager leadership and moral supervisor leadership, and moderates the mediating effect of moral supervisor leadership. (4) Ethical climate positively moderates the relationship between moral supervisor leadership and unethical employee behavior, and moderates the mediating effect of moral supervisor leadership.Originality/valueFirst, this study further proves that moral leadership is a popular positive leadership among the three dimensions of paternalistic leadership that extends its influence to unethical employee behavior. Second, this study traces the source of the moral leadership of employees' supervisors and reveals the action mechanism of how moral manager leadership affects unethical employee behavior. Finally, LMX provides the organizational context of the trickle-down effect and the occurrence of unethical employee behavior.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu-sien Liao ◽  
Da-chian Hu ◽  
Yu-Chun Chung ◽  
Li-Wen Chen

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX), job satisfaction (JS), life satisfaction (LS), and psychological capital (PC) for employee relation management. Design/methodology/approach A total of 319 valid questionnaires were received from employees of financial and electronics manufacturing industries in Taiwan, and they were then analyzed using a structuring equation model with SPSS 12.0 and LISREL 8.8. Findings Good LMX increases psychological capital. Psychological capital enhances both JS and LS, and psychological capital serves as a full mediator for both JS and LS. A moderating effect of industrial characteristics is found between LMX and LS and between psychological capital and LS. Practical implications The findings suggest that managers need to focus on leadership style in order to develop employees’ life and JS through building psychological capital. Originality/value This study not only obtained further support for predictions derived from the LMX theory but was also a more extensive analysis of the meaningful relationships between job and LS with a mediating effect of psychological capital on employee relation management.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-18
Author(s):  
Junaid Raza

Machiavellian leadership, an emerging form of toxic leadership, has been noticed to have serious negative effects on organizations. Thus, expanding the literature on dark styles of leadership, this study specifically examines the mechanism via which Machiavellian leadership of departmental heads (HODs) may hinder university teachers’ creativity by considering the mediating effect of teachers’ enterprising tendency. Furthermore, the study considers leader-member exchange (LMX) as a moderator that buffers the dysfunctional effects of Machiavellian leadership. A dual-source data was collected from 303 teachers and 32 HODs of two leading universities in Islamabad. Findings from statistical analyses confirm that the Machiavellian leadership–creativity relationship is mediated by teachers enterprising tendency. Also, the Machiavellian leadership and enterprising tendency relationship is moderated by LMX, such that the relationship is more evident under higher levels of LMX. In total, this study’s findings expand the understanding regarding why, when and how Machiavellian leadership may hinder employees’ creativity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianchun Yang ◽  
Lu Lu ◽  
Nan Yao ◽  
Chaochao Liang

Employee behavior that is unethical but that may potentially benefit the organization is termed unethical pro-organizational behavior. Based on social identity theory, we examined the influence of a self-sacrificial leadership style on employees' unethical pro-organizational behavior, as well as the mediating effect of identification with leader and the moderating role of collectivism. Participants were 336 Chinese employees in different industries including telecommunications, manufacturing, and catering. Results show that self-sacrificial leadership was positively related to the employees' unethical proorganizational behavior, and the positive influence was mediated by identification with leader. Additionally, collectivism moderated the relationship between self-sacrificial leadership and the employees' unethical pro-organizational behavior, such that the positive relationship between self-sacrificial leadership and unethical proorganizational behavior was stronger when collectivism was higher. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Gkorezis ◽  
Eugenia Petridou ◽  
Panteleimon Xanthiakos

Purpose – Leader-member exchange (LMX) has been proposed as a core mechanism which accounts for the impact of various antecedents on employee outcomes. As such, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of LMX regarding the relationship between leader positive humor and employees’ perceptions of organizational cynicism. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 114 public employees. In order to examine the authors’ hypotheses hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. Findings – As hypothesized, results demonstrated that LMX mediates the relationship between leader positive humor and organizational cynicism. Research limitations/implications – Data were drawn from public employees and, therefore, this may constrain the generalizability of the results. Also, the cross-sectional analysis of the data cannot directly assess causality. Originality/value – This is the first empirical study to examine the mediating effect of LMX in the relationship between leader humor and employees’ perceptions of organizational cynicism.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ya-Ting Chuang ◽  
Hua-Ling Chiang ◽  
An-Pan Lin ◽  
Yung-Chih Lien

PurposeAdopting conservation of resources (COR) theory as a guiding framework, this study proposes that benevolent supervision (BS) is a feasible leadership style for building a positive resource gain process in subordinates' extra-role actions and reducing their exhaustion, and leader-member exchange (LMX) and positive affect (PA) serve as indirect crossover mechanisms.Design/methodology/approachSurveys were conducted at three-time points with four-week intervals. A total of 304 subordinates and 55 supervisors at a Taiwanese university participated in the surveys, and a multilevel model was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results showed that prior BS (time 1) was positively associated with subordinates' subsequent LMX and PA (time 2). LMX mediated the relationship between BS and subsequent supervisor-rated contextual performance (time 3), and PA mediated the relationship between BS and subordinate-rated emotional exhaustion (time 3). In addition, supervisors' learning orientation positively moderated the relationship between BS and contextual performance via LMX, whereas supervisors' performance orientation negatively moderated this relationship.Practical implicationsThe results of the study encourage leaders to exhibit benevolence toward subordinates, increase subordinates' contextual performance and enhance personal feelings, thereby ultimately benefitting the organization.Originality/valueThis study reveals that BS is a source of resource investment in the process of subordinates' positive job (contextual performance) and personal (emotional exhaustion) resource gains through social exchange (LMX) and affective (PA) crossover mechanisms and that supervisors' goal inclinations impact this process.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haseena Bader Alkatheeri ◽  
Fauzia Jabeen ◽  
Khalid Mehmood ◽  
Gabriele Santoro

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate information technology capabilities (ITC)’s influence on organizational performance (OP) within the hospitality industry. Specifically, it analyzes the indirect effects of sustainability practices (SP) and service quality (SQ) on the relationship between ITC and OP. The moderating effect of top management support (TMS) is also examined.Design/methodology/approachUsing a three-wave time-lagged design, 507 UAE hotels' managers took part in the study. Hierarchical regression bootstrapping approach was used to examine the hypothesis.FindingsThis study suggests that ITC are positively related to OP. Furthermore, the study found that SP and SQ mediate the ITC-OP relationship. TMS moderates the positive relationship between ITC and OP and also moderates the relationship between SQ and OP. Additionally, TMS moderates the indirect effect of SQ on the association between ITC and OP, such that the mediating effect is stronger when TMS is at a high level.Research limitations/implicationsThe study shall assist the practitioners of the hospitality firms to focus their attention on ITC to improve SQ and hence achieve optimal performance.Originality/valueThe novelty of this research lies in the presentation of an integrated framework based on a resource-based view to solve the contemporary challenges facing hospitality firms operating in emerging markets in integrating ITC and SP for better organizational results.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 319-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasin Munir ◽  
Muhammad Mudasar Ghafoor ◽  
Amran M.D. Rasli

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the mediating effect of organizational cynicism between the relationship of perception of ethical climate and turnover intention among nurses working in public sector hospitals. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative approach was utilized and 870 questionnaires were distributed to collect data from nursing staff working in Punjab region of Pakistan by using non-probability multistage sampling technique. A total of 711 questionnaires were returned out of which 668 questionnaires were scrutinized. Additionally, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were applied to analyze the data. Findings The results revealed a full mediating effect of organizational cynicism between the relationship of perception of ethical climate and turnover intention. Research limitations/implications The current study has adopted a multistage non-probability sampling technique to collect data because the management of hospitals restricted researcher access to personal information about the nurses. Therefore, at the first stage, the researcher used convenience sampling and at the second stage, the researcher utilized quota sampling to collect the data. Moreover, the findings of the current study are based on cross-sectional data because of the limited time and resources. Practical implications The current study fosters the ongoing debate in organizational studies related to cynicism and it is noteworthy for the nursing managers to understand the significant factors which directly or indirectly affect the nursing attitude. Originality/value The current study explored the mediating role of organizational cynicism between perception of ethical climate and turnover intention in nursing profession to fill the research gap.


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