Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T12:13:47.394Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The influence of organizational identification on the curvilinear relationship between leader humility and follower unethical pro-organizational behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Jun Song Open the ORCID record for Jun Song [Opens in a new window] ,
Kuai Wang  and
Changqing He Open the ORCID record for Changqing He [Opens in a new window]
Jun Song
Affiliation:
School of Business Administration, Nanjing University of Finance & Economics, No. 3 Wenyuan Road, Xianlin College Town, Nanjing 210023, China
Kuai Wang
Affiliation:
School of Business Administration, Nanjing University of Finance & Economics, No. 3 Wenyuan Road, Xianlin College Town, Nanjing 210023, China
Changqing He*
Affiliation:
College of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 29 Jiangjun Ave., Nanjing 211100, China
*
*Corresponding author. Changqing He, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study utilized social exchange and social learning perspectives to develop a theoretical model about how leader humility predicts follower unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Using two-wave data obtained from 203 full-time employees nested within 46 work teams in eastern China, regression analyses revealed a nonmonotonic association between leader humility and follower UPB, such that follower UPB was most at intermediate levels of leader humility. Moreover, the strength of this curvilinear relationship was found to be moderated by the followers' organizational identification, such that the inverted U-curve relationship between leader humility and follower UPB will be stronger for followers with high organizational identification than for those with low organizational identification. Implications in theory and practice, along with limitations of our findings, were discussed.

Keywords

Curvilinear relationshipleader humilityorganizational identificationunethical pro-organizational behavior
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , First View , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Argandona, A. (2015). Humility in management. Journal of Business Ethics, 132(1), 63–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arun, K., Şen, C., & Okun, O. (2020). How does leadership effectiveness related to the context? Paternalistic leadership on non-financial performance within a cultural tightness-looseness model? JEEMS Journal of East European Management Studies, 25(3), 503–529.Google Scholar
Ashforth, B. E., & Anand, V. (2003). The normalization of corruption in organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior, 25, 1–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. (1989). Social identity theory and the organization. Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 20–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. New York: General Learning.Google Scholar
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Bharanitharan, K., Chen, Z. X., Bahmannia, S., & Lowe, K. B. (2019). Is leader humility a friend or foe, or both? An attachment theory lens on leader humility and its contradictory outcomes. Journal of Business Ethics, 160(3), 729–743.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Brislin, R. W. (1986). The wording and translation of research instrument. In Lonner, W. & Berry, J. (Eds.), Field methods in cross-cultural research (pp. 137–164). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Carnevale, J. B., Huang, L., & Paterson, T. (2019). LMX-differentiation strengthens the prosocial consequences of leader humility: An identification and social exchange perspective. Journal of Business Research, 96, 287–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, M., Chen, C. C., & Sheldon, O. J. (2016). Relaxing moral reasoning to win: How organizational identification relates to unethical pro-organizational behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(8), 1082–1096.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cheng, J. W., Lu, K. M., Chang, Y. Y., & Johnstone, S. (2013). Voice behavior and work engagement: The moderating role of supervisor-attributed motives. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 51(1), 81–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, K., Wei, F., & Lin, Y. (2019). The trickle-down effect of responsible leadership on unethical pro-organizational behavior: The moderating role of leader-follower value congruence. Journal of Business Research, 102, 34–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874–900.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, D. E., Worthington, E. L. Jr, Hook, J. N., Emmons, R. A., Hill, P. C., Bollinger, R. A., & Van Tongeren, D. R. (2013). Humility and the development and repair of social bonds: Two longitudinal studies. Self and Identity, 12(1), 58–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, J. F., & Richter, A. W. (2006). Probing three-way interactions in moderated multiple regression: Development and application of a slope difference test. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(4), 917–926.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Decoster, S., Camps, J., Stouten, J., Vandevyvere, L., & Tripp, T. M. (2013). Standing by your organization: The impact of organizational identification and abusive supervision on followers’ perceived cohesion and tendency to gossip. Journal of Business Ethics, 118(3), 623–634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Vries, R. E. (2012). Personality predictors of leadership styles and the self – other agreement problem. The Leadership Quarterly, 23(5), 809–821.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, T., & Dunfee, T. W. (1994). Toward a unified conception of business ethics: Integrative social contracts theory. Academy of Management Review, 19(2), 252–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Effelsberg, D., & Solga, M. (2015). Transformational leaders’ in-group versus out-group orientation: Testing the link between leaders’ organizational identification, their willingness to engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior, and follower-perceived transformational leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 126(4), 581–590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Effelsberg, D., Solga, M., & Gurt, J. (2014). Transformational leadership and follower's unethical behavior for the benefit of the company: A two-study investigation. Journal of Business Ethics, 120(1), 81–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Exline, J. J., Campbell, W. K., Baumeister, R. F., Joiner, T., Krueger, J., & Kachorek, L. V. (2004). Humility and modesty. In Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. E. (Eds.), Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 461–475.Google Scholar
Farh, J. L., Lee, C., & Farh, C. I. (2010). Task conflict and team creativity: A question of how much and when. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(6), 1173–1180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frostenson, M. (2016). Humility in business: A contextual approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 138(1), 91–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, K. A., Ziegert, J. C., & Capitano, J. (2015). The effect of leadership style, framing, and promotion regulatory focus on unethical pro-organizational behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 126(3), 423–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grenberg, J. (2005). Kant and the ethics of humility: A story of dependence, corruption and virtue. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeung, C. W., & Yoon, H. J. (2018). When leadership elicits voice: Evidence for a mediated moderation model. Journal of Management & Organization, 24(1), 40–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, H. H., & Umphress, E. E. (2019). To help my supervisor: Identification, moral identity, and unethical pro-supervisor behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 159(2), 519–534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kish-Gephart, J. J., Harrison, D. A., & Treviño, L. K. (2010). Bad apples, bad cases, and bad barrels: Meta-analytic evidence about sources of unethical decisions at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(1), 1–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, A., Schwarz, G., Newman, A., & Legood, A. (2019). Investigating when and why psychological entitlement predicts unethical pro-organizational behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 154(1), 109–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, M., Zhang, P., Xia, Y., & Liu, W. (2019). Shaping the shared mental model: How leader humility helps teams to learn. Journal of Management & Organization, 25(5), 653–671.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, X., Chen, Z. X., Herman, H. M., Wei, W., & Ma, C. (2019). Why and when employees like to speak up more under humble leaders? The roles of personal sense of power and power distance. Journal of Business Ethics, 158(4), 937–950.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, D., Liao, H., & Loi, R. (2012). The dark side of leadership: A three-level investigation of the cascading effect of abusive supervision on employee creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 55(5), 1187–1212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loi, R., Chan, K. W., & Lam, L. W. (2014). Leader–member exchange, organizational identification, and job satisfaction: A social identity perspective. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 87(1), 42–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loi, T. I., Kuhn, K. M., Sahaym, A., Butterfield, K. D., & Tripp, T. M. (2020). From helping hands to harmful acts: When and how employee volunteering promotes workplace deviance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105(9), 944–959.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mael, F., & Ashforth, B. E. (1992). Alumni and their alma mater: A partial test of the reformulated model of organizational identification. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13(2), 103–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mao, J., Chiu, C. Y., Owens, B. P., Brown, J. A., & Liao, J. (2019). Growing followers: Exploring the effects of leader humility on follower self-expansion, self-efficacy, and performance. Journal of Management Studies, 56(2), 343–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayer, D. M., Kuenzi, M., Greenbaum, R., Bardes, M., & Salvador, R. B. (2009). How low does ethical leadership flow? Test of a trickle-down model. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 108(1), 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melé, D. (2005). Ethical education in accounting: Integrating rules, values and virtues. Journal of Business Ethics, 57(1), 97–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mesdaghinia, S., Rawat, A., & Nadavulakere, S. (2019). Why moral followers quit: Examining the role of leader bottom-line mentality and unethical pro-leader behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 159(2), 491–505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miao, Q., Newman, A., Yu, J., & Xu, L. (2013). The relationship between ethical leadership and unethical pro-organizational behavior: Linear or curvilinear effects? Journal of Business Ethics, 116(3), 641–653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, J. A., Brotheridge, C. M., & Urbanski, J. C. (2005). Bringing humility to leadership: Antecedents and consequences of leader humility. Human Relations, 58(10), 1323–1350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nahrgang, J. D., Morgeson, F. P., & Ilies, R. (2009). The development of leader–member exchanges: Exploring how personality and performance influence leader and member relationships over time. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 108(2), 256–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nunnally, J. (1978). Psychometric methods. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Oc, B., Bashshur, M. R., Daniels, M. A., Greguras, G. J., & Diefendorff, J. M. (2015). Leader humility in Singapore. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(1), 68–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Fallon, M. J., & Butterfield, K. D. (2005). A review of the empirical ethical decision-making literature: 1996–2003. Journal of Business Ethics, 59(4), 375–413.Google Scholar
Owens, B. P., & Hekman, D. R. (2012). Modeling how to grow: An inductive examination of humble leader behaviors, contingencies, and outcomes. Academy of Management Journal, 55(4), 787–818.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owens, B. P., & Hekman, D. R. (2016). How does leader humility influence team performance? Exploring the mechanisms of contagion and collective promotion focus. Academy of Management Journal, 59(3), 1088–1111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owens, B. P., Johnson, M. D., & Mitchell, T. R. (2013). Expressed humility in organizations: Implications for performance, teams, and leadership. Organization Science, 24(5), 1517–1538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owens, B. P., Yam, K. C., Bednar, J. S., Mao, J., & Hart, D. W. (2019). The impact of leader moral humility on follower moral self-efficacy and behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(1), 146–163.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pierce, J. R., & Aguinis, H. (2015). Detrimental citizenship behaviour: A multilevel framework of antecedents and consequences. Management and Organization Review, 11(1), 69–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rapp, A. A., Bachrach, D. G., & Rapp, T. L. (2013). The influence of time management skill on the curvilinear relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and task performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(4), 668–677.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rego, A., Owens, B., Yam, K. C., Bluhm, D., Cunha, M. P. E., Silard, A., … Liu, W. (2019). Leader humility and team performance: Exploring the mediating mechanisms of team psychological safety and task allocation effectiveness. Journal of Management, 45(3), 1009–1033.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rego, A., & Simpson, A. V. (2018). The perceived impact of leaders’ humility on team effectiveness: An empirical study. Journal of Business Ethics, 148(1), 205–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silard, A., Miao, C., & Owens, B. P. (2021). Watching you descend, I help others rise: The influence of leader humility on prosocial motivation. Journal of Management & Organization, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2021.24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sluss, D. M., & Ashforth, B. E. (2007). Relational identity and identification: Defining ourselves through work relationships. Academy of Management Review, 32(1), 9–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sluss, D. M., & Ashforth, B. E. (2008). How relational and organizational identification converge: Processes and conditions. Organization Science, 19(6), 807–823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Song, J., Gu, J., Wu, J., & Xu, S. (2019). Differential promotive voice–prohibitive voice relationships with employee performance: Power distance orientation as a moderator. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 36(4), 1053–1077.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stouten, J., van Dijke, M., Mayer, D. M., De Cremer, D., & Euwema, M. (2012). Can a leader be too ethical? The curvilinear effects of ethical leadership. Boston, MA: Paper presentation at the Academy of Management.Google Scholar
Sykes, G. M., & Matza, D. (1957). Techniques of neutralization: A theory of delinquency. American Sociological Review, 22(6), 664–670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tajfel, H. (1982). Social identity and intergroup relations. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In Worchel, S. & Austin, W. G. (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7–24). Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall.Google Scholar
Tangirala, S., & Ramanujam, R. (2008). Exploring nonlinearity in employee voice: The effects of personal control and organizational identification. Academy of Management Journal, 51(6), 1189–1203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tangney, J. P. (2000). Humility: Theoretical perspectives, empirical findings and directions for future research. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19(1), 70–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thau, S., Derfler-Rozin, R., Pitesa, M., Mitchell, M. S., & Pillutla, M. M. (2015). Unethical for the sake of the group: Risk of social exclusion and pro-group unethical behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(1), 98–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Umphress, E. E., & Bingham, J. B. (2011). When employees do bad things for good reasons: Examining unethical pro-organizational behaviors. Organization Science, 22(3), 621–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Umphress, E. E., Bingham, J. B., & Mitchell, M. S. (2010). Unethical behavior in the name of the company: The moderating effect of organizational identification and positive reciprocity beliefs on unethical pro-organizational behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(4), 769–780.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vadera, A. K., & Pratt, M. G. (2013). Love, hate, ambivalence, or indifference? A conceptual examination of workplace crimes and organizational identification. Organization Science, 24(1), 172–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Dick, R., Ullrich, J., & Tissington, P. A. (2006). Working under a black cloud: How to sustain organizational identification after a merger. British Journal of Management, 17(1), 69–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Knippenberg, D. (2000). Work motivation and performance: A social identity perspective. Applied Psychology, 49(3), 357–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Knippenberg, D., Van Dick, R., & Tavares, S. (2007). Social identity and social exchange: Identification, support, and withdrawal from the job. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37(3), 457–477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Knippenberg, D., Van Knippenberg, B., De Cremer, D., & Hogg, M. A. (2004). Leadership, self, and identity: A review and research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 15(6), 825–856.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Y., Liu, J., & Zhu, Y. (2018). How does humble leadership promote follower creativity? The roles of psychological capital and growth need strength. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(4), 507–521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, T., Long, L., Zhang, Y., & He, W. (2019). A social exchange perspective of employee–organization relationships and employee unethical pro-organizational behavior: The moderating role of individual moral identity. Journal of Business Ethics, 159(2), 473–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, P., & Rode, J. C. (2010). Transformational leadership and follower creativity: The moderating effects of identification with leader and organizational climate. Human Relations, 63(8), 1105–1128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yuan, L., Zhang, L., & Tu, Y. (2018). When a leader is seen as too humble: A curvilinear mediation model linking leader humility to employee creative process engagement. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(4), 468–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yukl, G. A., & Gardner, W. L. (2020). Leadership in organizations (9th ed). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Zhou, F., & Wu, Y. J. (2018). How humble leadership fosters employee innovation behavior. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(3), 375–387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar