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

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 181; no. 3; pp. 661 - 682
• Main Authors: Yao, Zhu, Luo, Jinlian, Fu, Na, Zhang, Xianchun, Wan, Qunchao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.12.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bullying; Business and Management; Business Ethics; Cognitive-behavioral factors; Conservation; Disengagement; Education; Employee behavior; Employees; Ethics; Family roles; Fatigue; Forgiveness; Management; Organizational behavior; Original Paper; Personality; Philosophy; Quality of Life Research; System theory; Theory; Workplaces; Moral disengagement; Workplace bullying; Unethical pro-organizational behavior; Emotional exhaustion; Unethical pro-family behavior
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-021-04918-w

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.