Unethical leader behavior and employee performance: a deontic justice perspective
| Published date | 09 October 2019 |
| Date | 09 October 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-08-2018-0290 |
| Pages | 188-201 |
| Author | Chenjing Gan,Weixiao Guo,Yandong Chai,Duanxu Wang |
| Subject Matter | Hr & organizational behaviour,Global hrm |
Unethical leader behavior and
employee performance: a deontic
justice perspective
Chenjing Gan
Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
Weixiao Guo
Ningbo University, Ningbo, China
Yandong Chai
Zhejiang Institute of Economics and Trade, Hangzhou, China, and
Duanxu Wang
School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of deontic justice in the relationship
between unethical leader behavior and employee performance, and whether leader–member exchange (LMX)
moderates the effect.
Design/methodology/approach –A two-time-point questionnaire survey was used to collect data from
225 employees of nine firms in China at two points in time separated by approximately three weeks.
Findings –The hypothesized moderated mediation model used in this study was supported. Deontic justice
mediates the negative relationship between unethical leader behavior and employee performance, and higher
LMX tends to strengthen this indirect relationship.
Originality/value –Previous scholars mainly focused on the cognitive and conscious thought process to
explain employees’reactions to unethical leader behavior, and largely ignored the research on the
nonconscious thought process. Drawing on deontic justice theory, this study extends the previous research on
the nonconscious system of moral decision-making processing by introducing employee deontic justice as a
mediator in the relationship between unethical leader behavior and employee performance and further
exploring LMX as a boundary condition of this indirect relationship.
Keywords Quantitative, Deontic justice, Leader–member exchange (LMX), Employee performance,
Unethical leader behaviour
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Unethical leader behavior is currently receiving extensive attention in both the mass media
and the business literature because of the occurrence of various types of unethical behavior
in the workplace due to leaders’corruption or failure to adhere to moral standards
(Ahn et al., 2018; Knoll et al., 2017). Previous studies have explored the harmful impact of
unethical leader behavior through promoting unethical practices and reducing followers’
pro-organizational behaviors (Knoll et al., 2017; Zuber, 2015). However, relatively less
attention has been paid to the effects of unethical leader behavior on followers’job
performance, which is defined as “the aggregated value to an organization of the set of
behaviors that an employee contributes both directly and indirectly to organizational goals”
(Rich et al., 2010, p. 619) and is crucial to the success and development of organizations.
Therefore, this paper attempts to enrich the literature by investigating the ways in which
unethical leader behavior relates to employee performance.
Personnel Review
Vol. 49 No. 1, 2020
pp. 188-201
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-08-2018-0290
Received 5 August 2018
Revised 25 January 2019
23 May 2019
Accepted 8 June 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
This research was funded by Zhejiang Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science
No. 20NDQN272YB. Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province No. LQ18G020002. National
Natural Science Foundation of China No. 71672175. K.C. Wong Magna Fund in Ningbo University.
188
PR
49,1
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