IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v174y2021i1d10.1007_s10551-020-04546-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Moral Burden of Bottom-Line Pursuits: How and When Perceptions of Top Management Bottom-Line Mentality Inhibit Supervisors’ Ethical Leadership Practices

Author

Listed:
  • Rebecca L. Greenbaum

    (Rutgers University)

  • Mayowa Babalola

    (United Arab Emirates University)

  • Matthew J. Quade

    (Baylor University)

  • Liang Guo

    (Shandong University at Weihai)

  • Yun Chung Kim

    (Oklahoma State University)

Abstract

Drawing on theoretical work on humans’ adaptive capacity, we propose that supervisors’ perception of top management’s high bottom-line mentality (BLM) has a dysfunctional effect on their ethical leadership practices. Specifically, we suggest that these perceptions hinder supervisors’ empathy, which eventuates in less ethical leadership practices. We also investigate, in a first-stage moderated mediation model, how supervisors high in trait mindfulness are resistant to the ill effects of perceptions of top management’s high BLM. Supervisors high (versus low) in this trait are less likely to respond to perceptions of top management’s high BLM with reduced empathy that then hinders ethical leadership. Results from a multi-wave, multi-source sample of working adults from the Chinese high technology industry provide general support for our theoretical model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Rebecca L. Greenbaum & Mayowa Babalola & Matthew J. Quade & Liang Guo & Yun Chung Kim, 2021. "Moral Burden of Bottom-Line Pursuits: How and When Perceptions of Top Management Bottom-Line Mentality Inhibit Supervisors’ Ethical Leadership Practices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(1), pages 109-123, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:174:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-020-04546-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-020-04546-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-020-04546-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-020-04546-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kristin Smith-Crowe & Danielle E. Warren, 2014. "The Emotion-Evoked Collective Corruption Model: The Role of Emotion in the Spread of Corruption Within Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 1154-1171, August.
    2. Carroll, Archie B., 1991. "The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 39-48.
    3. Nicole Ruedy & Maurice Schweitzer, 2010. "In the Moment: The Effect of Mindfulness on Ethical Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(1), pages 73-87, September.
    4. Brown, Michael E. & Trevino, Linda K. & Harrison, David A., 2005. "Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 117-134, July.
    5. Deanne Hartog & Frank Belschak, 2012. "Work Engagement and Machiavellianism in the Ethical Leadership Process," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(1), pages 35-47, April.
    6. Brown, Michael E. & Mitchell, Marie S., 2010. "Ethical and Unethical Leadership: Exploring New Avenues for Future Research," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(4), pages 583-616, October.
    7. Anke Arnaud & Marshall Schminke, 2012. "The Ethical Climate and Context of Organizations: A Comprehensive Model," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(6), pages 1767-1780, December.
    8. Salar Mesdaghinia & Anushri Rawat & Shiva Nadavulakere, 2019. "Why Moral Followers Quit: Examining the Role of Leader Bottom-Line Mentality and Unethical Pro-Leader Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 491-505, October.
    9. Mayer, David M. & Kuenzi, Maribeth & Greenbaum, Rebecca & Bardes, Mary & Salvador, Rommel (Bombie), 2009. "How low does ethical leadership flow? Test of a trickle-down model," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-13, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Colina Frisch & Markus Huppenbauer, 2014. "New Insights into Ethical Leadership: A Qualitative Investigation of the Experiences of Executive Ethical Leaders," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(1), pages 23-43, August.
    2. Guangxi Zhang & Jianan Zhong & Muammer Ozer, 2020. "Status Threat and Ethical Leadership: A Power-Dependence Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(3), pages 665-685, January.
    3. Rebekka Skubinn & Lisa Herzog, 2016. "Internalized Moral Identity in Ethical Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 249-260, January.
    4. S. Hansen & Bradley Alge & Michael Brown & Christine Jackson & Benjamin Dunford, 2013. "Ethical Leadership: Assessing the Value of a Multifoci Social Exchange Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 435-449, July.
    5. Samuel Hunter, 2012. "(Un)Ethical Leadership and Identity: What Did We Learn and Where Do We Go from Here?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(1), pages 79-87, April.
    6. Yan Ling & Michelle Hammond & Li-Qun Wei, 2022. "Ethical leadership and ambidexterity in young firms: examining the CEO-TMT Interface," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 25-48, March.
    7. Ali Ünal & Danielle Warren & Chao Chen, 2012. "The Normative Foundations of Unethical Supervision in Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(1), pages 5-19, April.
    8. Shenjiang Mo & Junqi Shi, 2017. "Linking Ethical Leadership to Employee Burnout, Workplace Deviance and Performance: Testing the Mediating Roles of Trust in Leader and Surface Acting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 293-303, August.
    9. Nida Kamal & Hina Samdani & Amna Yameen, 2018. "Engaging Employees through Ethical Leadership," Global Social Sciences Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(3), pages 300-316, September.
    10. Muel Kaptein, 2019. "The Moral Entrepreneur: A New Component of Ethical Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 1135-1150, June.
    11. Hannah, Sean T. & Jennings, Peter L. & Bluhm, Dustin & Peng, Ann Chunyan & Schaubroeck, John M., 2014. "Duty orientation: Theoretical development and preliminary construct testing," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 220-238.
    12. Emmanuel Osafo & Amy Paros & Robert M. Yawson, 2021. "Valence–Instrumentality–Expectancy Model of Motivation as an Alternative Model for Examining Ethical Leadership Behaviors," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, June.
    13. Magdaline Enow Mbi Tarkang Mary & Ali Ozturen, 2019. "Sustainable Ethical Leadership and Employee Outcomes in the Hotel Industry in Cameroon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-18, April.
    14. Angela J. Xu & Raymond Loi & Hang-yue Ngo, 2016. "Ethical Leadership Behavior and Employee Justice Perceptions: The Mediating Role of Trust in Organization," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 493-504, March.
    15. Muhammad Asif & Miao Qing & Jinsoo Hwang & Hao Shi, 2019. "Ethical Leadership, Affective Commitment, Work Engagement, and Creativity: Testing a Multiple Mediation Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-16, August.
    16. Toby Joplin & Rebecca L. Greenbaum & J. Craig Wallace & Bryan D. Edwards, 2021. "Employee Entitlement, Engagement, and Performance: The Moderating Effect of Ethical Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(4), pages 813-826, February.
    17. Bauman, Christopher W. & Tost, Leigh Plunkett & Ong, Madeline, 2016. "Blame the shepherd not the sheep: Imitating higher-ranking transgressors mitigates punishment for unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 123-141.
    18. Walumbwa, Fred O. & Hartnell, Chad A. & Misati, Everlyne, 2017. "Does ethical leadership enhance group learning behavior? Examining the mediating influence of group ethical conduct, justice climate, and peer justice," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 14-23.
    19. Conna Yang, 2014. "Does Ethical Leadership Lead to Happy Workers? A Study on the Impact of Ethical Leadership, Subjective Well-Being, and Life Happiness in the Chinese Culture," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 513-525, September.
    20. Sebastian C. Schuh & Michelle Xue Zheng & Katherine R. Xin & Juan Antonio Fernandez, 2019. "The Interpersonal Benefits of Leader Mindfulness: A Serial Mediation Model Linking Leader Mindfulness, Leader Procedural Justice Enactment, and Employee Exhaustion and Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 1007-1025, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:174:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-020-04546-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.