Support to sin: a moderated mediation model of perceived organizational support's effect on unethical pro-organizational behavior among Indian nationals

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-09-2021-0535
• Published date: 28 September 2022
• Date: 28 September 2022
• Pages: 484-502
• Subject Matter: Economics,Labour economics
• Author: Varun Sharma,Vivek Mishra,Nishant Uppal

Support to sin: a moderated

mediation model of perceived

organizational support’s effect

on unethical pro-organizational

behavior among Indian nationals

Varun Sharma, Vivek Mishra and Nishant Uppal

Department of Human Resource Management,

Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, Lucknow, India

Abstract

Purpose –The present research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the mechanism

underlying the potential harmful outcomes of perceived organizational support (POS) in instigating unethical

pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Integrating social exchange theory with social identity theory, the present

study proposes the indirect effect of one’s POS as the mechanism that leads an individual to commit UPB via

organizational identification (OI). The authors also expect the role of an individual’s moral identity (MI) in

moderating the relationship between OI and UPB.

Design/methodology/approach –The current research tests the proposed moderated mediation model by

using two survey-based field studies consisting of 316 and 178 responses in study 1 and 2, respectively from

working professionals of various organizations in India.

Findings –The current research finds support for the proposed moderated mediation model where the POS

leads to UPB through the indirect effects of OI. Also, an individual’s MI plays a key role in moderating one’s

engagement in UPB.

Originality/value –The current research integrates social exchange theory and social identity theory in the

UPB literature in a logical and coherent manner. Furthermore, the current research also explains the role of

multiple identities in enhancing and attenuating one’s engagement in UPB.

Keywords Perceived organizational support, Moral identity, Organizational identification, Unethical pro-

organizational behavior, Moderated mediation, Social exchange theory, Social identity theory

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Organizations consider supporting their employees at the workplace as a central aspect of

organizational responsibility (Eisenberger et al., 2016). Swiss-drug manufacturing company,

Novartis is one among such companies which was among the top organizations which were

rated “Happiest Company”to work for based on the employees’subjective perception

regarding the support from management (Kauflin, 2017). However, Novartis also had to pay

millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit when some employees attempted to benefit the company

by wrongfully boosting the medical prescriptions (Business Today, 2020). Apparently, while

the organizations provide support and care for their employees to improve their functioning

in the workplace; such employees’behavior, sometimes backfire because of associated

unethicality. This raises a pertinent question of whether organizations should be cautious of

the support they provide to the employees and if so, what could be the underlying pathway

that can enhance our understanding and also to impede such behaviors?

Although the employees have violated society’s ethical standards in the scenario mentioned

above, the primary beneficiary of their unethical acts remains their organization. Umphress and

Bingham (2011) have referred to this type of unethical behavior as “Unethical Pro-

Organizational Behavior”(UPB) which refers to the unethical act done to promote effective

IJM

44,3

484

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

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0143-7720.htm

Received 14 September 2021

Revised 17 July 2022

23 August 2022

Accepted 11 September 2022

International Journal of Manpower

Vol. 44 No. 3, 2023

pp. 484-502

© Emerald Publishing Limited

0143-7720

DOI 10.1108/IJM-09-2021-0535

functioning of the organization without any self-interest. In the conceptualization of UPB,

Umphress and Bingham (2011) utilized the social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) to explai n the

possible antecedents to UPB through positive exchanges. One such positive exchange grounded

in socialexchange theoryis perceivedorganizationalsupport (POS)that reflects globalbeliefs of

employeesregardinghow their organizationsvalue their contributionsand care about theirwell-

being (Eisenberger et al., 1986). Thus,when individuals feela positive exchangein the form of a

strong support from the organization (POS), they reciprocate it by citizenship behavior beyond

their formal job description (Eisenberger et al., 2001).

The POS may also instigate an individual to lie for the organization, exaggerate the truth

regarding the company’s product and services (UPB) as a way to reciprocate high POS

received from the organization (Umphress and Bingham, 2011). Although the relationship

between the POS and the UPB may sound intuitively positive, the existing results in UPB

literature are quite inconsistent. For example, some scholars have failed to find any empirical

support for this relationship (Kong, 2016) and also, a recently published systematic review of

UPB has been silent regarding the role of POS as an important antecedent (Mishra et al., 2021).

Whereas some have claimed it to be a conditional relationship between POS and UPB when

there exists high inducement from the organization and low contribution from the low

performing employee (Wang et al., 2022). This implies that the POS being an exchange related

process involves two parties as separate entities, more specifically as the exchange

relationship between the donor and recipient (Eisenberger et al., 1986;Van Knippenberg et al.,

2007). Therefore, the transactional nature of the relationship may not account for the

immediate motivation needed to undertake an unethical activity for the organization.

This conundrum resulting from the nature of employer-employee relationship may be

resolved from the social identity theory as it assumes psychological merger of an individual with

the organization (Tajfel and Turner, 1986). Although the social exchange theory and social

identification theory are two different theories and are developed in isolation, integrating these

two perspectives may uncoverthe mechanism by which POS may lead to UPB via organizational

identification (OI). As an individual’s identity intertwines with the organization’s identity, it

provokes an individual to consider organizations’success and failure as their own (Mael and

Ashforth, 1992) and behave in pro-organizational ways in order to improve organizational

effectiveness (Ashforth et al., 2008). Thus, we believe, to improve the organization’s effectiveness,

an individual may also engage in pro-organizational behaviorby violating core societal norms, i.e.

UPB as the employee feels justified in doing so and considers it as more dutiful behavior that

serves the organization (Chen et al., 2016;Umphress and Bingham, 2011).

However, an individuals’self is multilayered, and different identities influence the

organizational identity of an individual. Since Umphress and Bingham (2011) theorized that

an individual’s moral standard also plays a vital role in determining one’s proclivity towards

UPB, individuals’moral identity (MI) could be an important antecedent in the proposed

relationship. MI is an individuals’self-conception regarding specific moral traits (Aquino and

Reed, 2002). The MI inhibits an individual from engaging in unethical behavior (DeCelles

et al., 2012), and therefore MI is expected to moderate one’s engagement in UPB.

Thus, the present study has the following objectives. First, by following social exchange

theory, this study contributes to the growing stream of research demonstrating the potential

harmful effects of POS, as it leads an individual to engage in UPB. Second, it suggests OI as a

possible mediator which integrates and unifies the two different theories of social exchange

theory and social identification theory in a coherent manner which was used separately in the

UPB literature till now. Third, this study also tests the role of MI as a negative moderator to

inhibit the harmful effects of POS and OI on UPB, which also addresses how the combination

of two identities of an individual affects their predisposition towards UPB.

We examine the proposed relationships by conducting two field studies on entry and middle

level Indian managers. Recent reports have cautioned regarding the tendency for entry level and

Support to sin

485