Cost of Laissez-faire: Leader Reward Omission and Employees' Unethical Behavior

Abstract

Abstract: Leaders play a critical role in employees' unethical behavior. However, existing studies focus mainly on leadership's provoking or inhibiting effect on employees' unethical behavior, without paying attention to the potential influence of laissez-faire leadership. Drawing upon the Stress-Emotion theory, the study examines the relationship between reward omission (a typical form of laissez-faire leadership) and employees' unethical behavior. Using a sample of 245 employees, the result shows that leader reward omission not only direcly has a positive effect on employees' unethical behavior, but also indirectly result in such behavior through the partial mediating role played by emotional exhaustion. Taking the contextual effect of employees' proactive personality into consideration, we find that the proactive personality will not only weaken the positive impact of leader reward omission on emotional exhaustion but also weaken the mediating role of emotional exhaustion in the relationship between leader reward omission and employees' unethical behavior. The paper enriches the knowledge of employees' unethical behavior from the perspective of laissez-faire leadership and provide important enlightenment on how to prevent and control unethical behavior.

Key words: leader reward omission, emotional exhaustion, proactive personality, unethical behavior

Peng Quiping, Zhong Xi, Liu Shanshi, Zhou Huaikang. Cost of Laissez-faire: Leader Reward Omission and Employees' Unethical Behavior[J]. Management Review, 2021, 33(12): 262-271.

References

[1] Treviño L. K., Weaver G. R., Reynolds S. J. Behavioral Ethics in Organizations:A Review[J]. Journal of Management, 2006, 32(6):951-990
[2] Moore C., Gino F. Approach, Ability, Aftermath:A Psychological Process Framework of Unethical Behavior at Work[J]. The Academy of Management Annals, 2015, 9(1):235-289
[3] Gino F., Margolis J. D. Bringing Ethics into Focus:How Regulatory Focus and Risk Preferences Influence (Un)Ethical Behavior[J]. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2011, 115(2):145-156
[4] Greenbaum R. L., Hill A., Mawritz M. B., et al. Employee Machiavellianism to Unethical Behavior:The Role of Abusive Supervision as a Trait Activator[J]. Journal of Management, 2017, 43(2):585-609
[5] Mayer D. M., Kuenzi M., Greenbaum R., et al. How Low does Ethical Leadership Flow? Test of a Trickle-Down Model[J]. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2009, 108(1):1-13
[6] Brown M. E., Mitchell M. S. Ethical and Unethical Leadership:Exploring New Avenues for Future Research[J]. Business Ethics Quarterly, 2010, 20(4):583-616
[7] Brown M. E., Treviño L. K. Ethical Leadership:A Review and Future Directions[J]. The Leadership Quarterly, 2006, 17(6):595-616
[8] Hannah S. T., Schaubroeck J. M., Peng A. C., et al. Joint Influences of Individual and Work Unit Abusive Supervision on Ethical Intentions and Behaviors:A Moderated Mediation Model[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2013, 98(4):579-592
[9] Aasland M. S., Skogstad A., Notelaers G., et al. The Prevalence of Destructive Leadership Behaviour[J]. British Journal of Management, 2010, 21(2):438-452
[10] Skogstad A., Einarsen S., Torsheim T., et al. The Destructiveness of Laissez-Faire Leadership Behavior[J]. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 2007, 12(1):80-92
[11] Judge T. A., Piccolo R. F. Transformational and Transactional Leadership:A Meta-Analytic Test of Their Relative Validity[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2004, 89(5):755-768
[12] Antonakis J., Day D. V. The Nature of Leadership[M]. London:Sage Publications, 2017
[13] Kouchaki M., Desai S. D. Anxious, Threatened, and Also Unethical:How Anxiety Makes Individuals Feel Threatened and Commit Unethical Acts[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2015, 100(2):360-375
[14] Spector P. E., Fox S. The Stressor-Emotion Model of Counterproductive Work Behavior[A]. In Spector S. Fox & P. E. Counterproductive Work Behavior:Investigations of Actors and Targets[C]. Washington, DC, US:American Psychological Association, 2005
[15] Berkowitz L. Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis:Examination and Reformulation[J]. Psychological Bulletin, 1989, 106(1):59-73
[16] Kelloway E. K., Sivanathan N., Francis L., et al. Poor Leadership[M]//Barling J., Kelloway E. K., Frone M. R. (Eds.) Handbook of Work Stress. Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage Publications, 2005
[17] Bateman T. S., Crant J. M. The Proactive Component of Organizational Behavior:A Measure and Correlates[J]. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 1993, 14(2):103-118
[18] Seibert S. E., Crant J. M., Kraimer M. L. Proactive Personality and Career Success[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1999, 84(3):416-427
[19] Crant J. M., Bateman T. S. Charismatic Leadership Viewed from Above:The Impact of Proactive Personality[J]. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 2000, 21(1):63-75
[20] Li N., Liang J., Crant J. M. The Role of Proactive Personality in Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behavior:A Relational Perspective[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2010, 95(2):395-404
[21] Zhang Z., Wang M., Shi J. Leader-Follower Congruence in Proactive Personality and Work Outcomes:The Mediating Role of Leader-Member Exchange[J]. Academy of Management Journal, 2012, 55(1):111-130
[22] 张振刚, 余传鹏, 李云健. 主动性人格, 知识分享与员工创新行为关系研究[J]. 管理评论, 2016, 28(4):124-132
[23] Hinkin T. R., Schriesheim C. A. An Examination of "Nonleadership":From Laissez-Faire Leadership to Leader Reward Omission and Punishment Omission[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2008, 93(6):1234-1248
[24] Trevino L. K. Ethical Decision Making in Organizations:A Person-Situation Interactionist Model[J]. Academy of Management Review, 1986, 11(3):601-617
[25] Motro D., Ordonez L. D., Pittarello A., et al. Investigating the Effects of Anger and Guilt on Unethical Behavior:A Dual-Process Approach[J]. Journal of Business Ethics, 2018, 152(1):133-148
[26] Gino F., Schweitzer M. E., Mead N. L., et al. Unable to Resist Temptation:How Self-Control Depletion Promotes Unethical Behavior[J]. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2011, 115(2):191-203
[27] Malik M. a. R., Butt A. N., Choi J. N. Rewards and Employee Creative Performance:Moderating Effects of Creative Self-Efficacy, Reward Importance, and Locus of Control[J]. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 2015, 36(1):59-74
[28] Jex S. M., Elacqua T. C. Self-Esteem as a Moderator:A Comparison of Global and Organization-Based Measures[J]. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 1999, 72(1):71-81
[29] 张正堂, 丁明智, 刘宁. 领导奖励缺失对员工反馈寻求行为的影响机制[J]. 经济管理, 2018, 40(9):107-122
[30] Fox S., Spector P. E., Miles D. Counterproductive Work Behavior (Cwb) in Response to Job Stressors and Organizational Justice:Some Mediator and Moderator Tests for Autonomy and Emotions[J]. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 2001, 59(3):291-309
[31] Maslach C. Burnout:The Cost of Caring[M]. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice Hall, 2003
[32] Qin X., Direnzo M. S., Xu M., et al. When do Emotionally Exhausted Employees Speak Up? Exploring the Potential Curvilinear Relationship between Emotional Exhaustion and Voice[J]. Journal of organizational behavior, 2014, 35(7):1018-1041
[33] Baumeister R. F., Bratslavsky E., Muraven M., et al. Ego Depletion:Is the Active Self a Limited Resource?[J]. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1998, 74(5):1252-1265
[34] Mead N. L., Baumeister R. F., Gino F., et al. Too Tired to Tell the Truth:Self-Control Resource Depletion and Dishonesty[J]. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2009, 45(3):594-597
[35] 施让龙, 张珈祯, 黄良志. 员工主动性人格特质, 工作热情, 知觉组织支持及职涯满意的实证研究[J]. 管理评论, 2017, 29(2):114-128
[36] 谢俊, 严鸣. 积极应对还是逃避? 主动性人格对职场排斥与组织公民行为的影响机制[J]. 心理学报, 2016, 48(10):1314-1325
[37] Greguras G. J., Diefendorff J. M. Why does Proactive Personality Predict Employee Life Satisfaction and Work Behaviors? A Field Investigation of the Mediating Role of the Self-Concordance Model[J]. Personnel Psychology, 2010, 63(3):539-560
[38] Yang J., Gong Y., Huo Y. Proactive Personality, Social Capital, Helping, and Turnover Intentions[J]. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 2011, 26(8):739-760
[39] Farooq O., Rupp D. E., Farooq M. The Multiple Pathways through Which Internal and External Corporate Social Responsibility Influence Organizational Identification and Multifoci Outcomes:The Moderating Role of Cultural and Social Orientations[J]. Academy of Management Journal, 2017, 60(3):954-985
[40] Maslach C., Jackson S. MBI:Maslach Burnout Inventory[A]. Manual Research Edition. Palo Alto, University of California[C]. Paolo Alto, CA:Consulting Psychologists Press, 1986
[41] Kammeyer-Mueller J. D., Wanberg C. R. Unwrapping the Organizational Entry Process:Disentangling Multiple Antecedents and Their Pathways to Adjustment[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2003, 88(5):779-794
[42] Barsky A. Investigating the Effects of Moral Disengagement and Participation on Unethical Work Behavior[J]. Journal of Business Ethics, 2011, 104(1):59-75
[43] 王端旭, 曾恺, 郑显伟. 员工非伦理行为如何招致同事攻击:道义公正视角[J]. 心理学报, 2017, 49(6):829-840
[44] Alexandra V., Torres M. M., Kovbasyuk O., et al. The Relationship between Social Cynicism Belief, Social Dominance Orientation, and the Perception of Unethical Behavior:A Cross-Cultural Examination in Russia, Portugal, and the United States[J]. Journal of Business Ethics, 2017, 146(3):545-562
[45] Kalshoven K., Van Dijk H., Boon C. Why and When does Ethical Leadership Evoke Unethical Follower Behavior?[J]. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 2016, 31(2):500-515
[46] Greenbaum R. L., Mawritz M. B., Piccolo R. F. When Leaders Fail to "Walk the Talk" Supervisor Undermining and Perceptions of Leader Hypocrisy[J]. Journal of Management, 2015, 41(3):929-956
[47] Siemsen E., Roth A., Oliveira P. Common Method Bias in Regression Models with Linear, Quadratic, and Interaction Effects[J]. Organizational Research Methods, 2010, 13(3):456-476
[48] 钟熙, 王甜, 罗淏元, 等. 上下级关系与亲组织非伦理行为:基于组织认同与自我牺牲型领导的作用[J]. 科学学与科学技术管理, 2018, 39(6):122-135
[49] 温忠麟, 张雷, 侯杰泰, 等. 中介效应检验程序及其应用[J]. 心理学报, 2004, 36(5):614-620
[50] Antonakis J., Day D. V., Schyns B. Leadership and Individual Differences:At the Cusp of a Renaissance[J]. The Leadership Quarterly, 2012, 23(4):643-650
[51] Witt L., Burke L. A., Barrick M. R., et al. The Interactive Effects of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness on Job Performance[J]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2002, 87(1):164-169
[52] Barsade S. G. The Ripple Effect:Emotional Contagion and Its Influence on Group Behavior[J]. Administrative Science Quarterly, 2002, 47(4):644-675