Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
6-2023
Abstract
Purpose – This study seeks to apply a dual-processing model to understand how ethical leadership prohibits employee unethical behavior through both employee deontic justice and distributive justice. Design/methodology/approach – A survey research was conducted with 62 supervisors and 244 subordinates of 17 firms collected at 2 time points separated by approximately 3 weeks in People’s Republic of China. Findings – A multilevel modeling analysis was used to test the dual-processing model. The results showed that both employee deontic justice (moral intuition process) and distributive justice (deliberate reasoning process) significantly mediate the negative relationship between ethical leadership and employee unethical behavior. Practical implications – As traditional ethics-training approaches mainly focus on developing the deliberate decision-making process driven by distributive justice, the authors’ dual-processing model suggests that moral intuition led by deontic justice is equally important and could significantly inhibit employee unethical behavior. Applying the proposed dual-processing model in the ethics training can enhance the effectiveness of employee moral training. Originality/value – Previous studies have studied the deliberate reasoning process and moral intuition on employee unethical behavior independently. This study contributes to the current literature by a comprehensive dual-processing model which demonstrates equal impact of employee deontic justice and distributive justice led by ethical leadership on the inhibition of employee unethical behavior.
Keywords
Ethical leadership, Unethical behavior, Deontic justice, Distributive justice
Discipline
Industrial and Organizational Psychology | Leadership Studies
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
Management Decision
Volume
61
Issue
6
First Page
1501
Last Page
1516
ISSN
0025-1747
Identifier
10.1108/MD-05-2022-0694
Publisher
Emerald
Citation
GAN, Chenjing, CHENG, Chi-ying, CHAI, Yandong, & YANG, Linbo.(2023). Ethical leadership and employee unethical behavior: A dual-processing model. Management Decision, 61(6), 1501-1516.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3762
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-05-2022-0694