Supervisor bottom line mentality, self-regulation impairment and unethical pro-organizational behavior: investigating the moderating effect of perceived employability

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-02-2022-0043
• Published date: 15 June 2022
• Date: 15 June 2022
• Pages: 342-360
• Subject Matter: Economics,Social economics
• Author: Komal Kamran,Mobina Farasat,Akbar Azam,Mian Muhammad Atif

Supervisor bottom line mentality,

self-regulation impairment and

unethical pro-organizational

behavior: investigating

the moderating effect of

perceived employability

Komal Kamran

FAST School of Management, National University of Computer and Emerging

Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

Mobina Farasat

Department of Management Sciences, Lahore College for Women University,

Lahore, Pakistan, and

Akbar Azam and Mian Muhammad Atif

FAST School of Management,

National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences,

Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

Purpose –Unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) is one of the major reasons behind high-profile

financial fraudsin the recent past. This study aims to explore how an exclusive focus on financialoutcomes, i.

e. supervisor bottom-line mentality(BLM) leads to UPB among employees and highlights the critical role of

self-regulationimpairment and perceived employabilityin the process. Drawing on self-regulationtheory, this

study examines how BLM and perceivedemployability interactively impact self-regulatory strength,which

ultimatelyinfluences UPB.

Design/methodology/approach –The theoretical model is tested through a time-laggedfield study of

171 employeesand hypothesis testing in SPSS PROCESS Macros.

Findings –Results suggest that self-regulation impairment mediates a positive relationship between

supervisor BLM and employeeUPB and perceived employability moderates this indirect associationbetween

BLM and UPB, wherein the indirect positive relationship is stronger when perceived employability is low

(than high).

Disclosure statement:No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available on

request from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

Compliance with ethical standards:Ethical approval: All procedures performed in studies involving

human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national

research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or

comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the

study.

IJOES

39,2

342

Received18 February 2022

Revised16 May 2022

Accepted1 June 2022

InternationalJournal of Ethics and

Systems

Vol.39 No. 2, 2023

pp. 342-360

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2514-9369

DOI 10.1108/IJOES-02-2022-0043

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2514-9369.htm

Originality/value –This study contributesto the BLM and UPB literature by identifying the criticalrole

of perceivedemployability and suggesting that UPBis an impulsive action rather than an intentionalmove.

Keywords Bottom-line mentality, Unethical behavior, Perceived unemployability,

Self-regulation impairment, Supervisor bottom-line mentality, Perceived employability,

Unethical pro-organizational behavior

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Bottom-line mentality (BLM) is defined as “one-dimensional thinking that revolves around

securing bottom-line outcomes to the neglect of competing priorities”(Greenbaum et al.,

2012,p344). Bottom-line outcomes are often referred to performance metrics, like economic

efficiency, that stimulate the organization’sprofitability. In today’s highly competitive

business environment, obtaining performance outcomes is highly important to the success

and survival of the organization. However, recent corporate scandals (e.g. Enron and

Volkswagen) indicate that myopic focus on bottom-line, which disregards competing

priorities such as employee welfare, social and moral norms or work quality, produces

financial and reputationalcosts for organizations. Beyond high profilescandals, a handful of

prior studies also demonstrated that BLMs in organization can have detrimental effects,

such as abusive supervision (Mawritzet al.,2017) and customer-directed unethical behavior

(Babalola et al.,2022). Research has shown that supervisor BLM may have undesirable

consequences for employeeseven outside the organization –they may suffer from insomnia

(Babalola et al.,2022) and work-family conflict (Quade et al.,2021). Although these findings

have yielded valuable insights, little is known, however, of how high-BLM supervisors

undermines subordinates’self-control capacity, resulting in irrational work behaviors such

as unethical pro-organizationalbehavior [UPB, i.e. behaviors that violate ethical norms, but

are intended to serve organizationalinterests; Umphress and Bingham (2011)].

Drawing on self-regulation theory (Baumeister and Heatherton, 1996), we posit that

employees working for high-BLM supervisors experience diminished self-regulatory

capacity, which impairs their ability to control subsequent inappropriate responses. High-

BLM supervisors have elevated performance expectations regarding subordinates’work-

efforts and monitor their behaviors closely to ensure that employees are contributing

positively to bottom-line success (Mawritz et al.,2017; Wolfe, 1988). Any discrepancy

between the supervisor’s desired and current states reflects subordinate failure to attain

bottom-line goals and he/she thus might face negative consequences (e.g. reprimand,

termination, withholdingpromotion). In this respect, we believe that supervisors’highBLM

represent a dynamic and unique stressor for employees because it makes them more

concentrated on the worrisome and foreboding aspects of the work, which drains their self-

resources and energy. In turn, a depleted employeefails to recognize the ethical implications

of their decisions and engagesin UPB to help their supervisors in meetinghis or her bottom-

line objectives.

Furthermore, this study argues that the magnitude of the effects of supervisor BLM on

employee self-regulation and subsequent work behaviors is contingent on subordinates’

perceived employability. Perceived employability refers to the employee’s capability to

obtain or retain employment (De Cuyper et al.,2012;Sok et al., 2013). The individual

subjective evaluationof one’s marketability in the internal or externallabor market is based

on both individual capabilities and contextual factors (e.g. national unemployment rate)

(Forrier et al.,2015;Rothwelland Arnold, 2007)). Employees who perceive themselveshighly

employable have a greater sense of control, the control of being able to quit the current

Perceived

employability

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