When and Why Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior is Related to Intention to Stay

Abstract

Due to the increasing occurrence of corporate scandals, research focused on identifying the motivations and circumstances that give rise to unethical behavior has become a top priority. In particular, unethical pro-organizational behavior has been recognized as a distinct type of unethical behavior employees engage in to benefit their organization. Despite these positive intentions, unethical pro-organizational behavior has been linked to a variety of detrimental organizational outcomes. However, limited studies have examined the impact of unethical pro-organizational behavior on individual outcomes in terms of cognitive processes and attitudes the employees may experience. Drawing on social exchange theory, this study aims to assess the mediating role of perceived insider status and psychological entitlement on the relationship between intention to engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior and intention to stay, respectively. Additionally, this study explores the moderating effect and the moderated mediation effect of psychological contract breach on these relationships. Hypotheses were tested through data collected from 345 full time South Korean employees across two time periods. The results indicated that perceived insider status had a complete mediation effect and psychological entitlement had a partial mediation effect on the relationship between intention to engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior and intention to stay. Contrary to my predictions, the relationship between willingness to engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior and perceived insider status was more pronounced when psychological contract breach was high than when it was low. Psychological contract breach also showed partial support for a moderated mediating effect on the relationship between unethical pro-organizational behavior and intention to stay through perceived insider status only when psychological contract breach was high. While both the moderated effect and the moderated mediation effect of psychological contract breach were not supported in relation to psychological entitlement, this study shows that willingness to engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior can lead to cognitive processes that can influence an employee’s intention to stay in an organization differently. These findings provide novel insight regarding the consequences of unethical pro-organizational behavior in the service context.