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Repaying the Debt: An Examination of the Relationship between Perceived Organisational Support and Unethical Pro-Organisational Behaviour by Low Performers

Wang, X.; Zheng, X.; Zhao, S.

Repaying the Debt: An Examination of the Relationship between Perceived Organisational Support and Unethical Pro-Organisational Behaviour by Low Performers Thumbnail


Authors

X. Wang

S. Zhao



Abstract

Drawing on social exchange theory, we examine the conditions under which employees’ good intentions motivate them to engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) and the psychological mechanism behind this behavioral decision. Findings from a time-lagged field study and a scenario study indicate (1) an interactive effect between perceived organizational support and employee performance on UPB; (2) that low performers who perceive high levels of organizational support are more likely to engage in UPB; and (3) that feelings of indebtedness to the organization mediate the interactive effect on UPB. Therefore, the paper highlights the importance of conditional factors in motivating UPB by combining employee ‘good intentions’ and ‘disadvantageous situations’ to understand the UPB decision process. The paper concludes with theoretical and practical implications.

Citation

Wang, X., Zheng, X., & Zhao, S. (2022). Repaying the Debt: An Examination of the Relationship between Perceived Organisational Support and Unethical Pro-Organisational Behaviour by Low Performers. Journal of Business Ethics, 179(3), 697-709. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04809-0

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 27, 2021
Online Publication Date May 18, 2021
Publication Date 2022-09
Deposit Date May 13, 2021
Publicly Available Date Nov 29, 2022
Journal Journal of Business Ethics
Print ISSN 0167-4544
Electronic ISSN 1573-0697
Publisher Springer
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 179
Issue 3
Pages 697-709
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04809-0
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1275078

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.




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