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Activating moral knowledge or suppressing deviance? The interactive effects of honesty-humility and ethical leadership on workplace deviance

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  • Maerz, Addison
  • Stackhouse, Madelynn

Abstract

Honesty-Humility (HH), the primary ethics-related dimension in the HEXACO personality model, is crucial for understanding workplace ethical conduct. We draw on and extend trait activation theory to encompass both activation and suppression mechanisms, proposing that ethical leadership activates and deactivates tendencies consistent with high and low HH, respectively, to shape the relationship between HH and workplace deviance. Across three samples, including a three-wave multi-source survey, we show ethical leadership moderates the HH-workplace deviance relationship. Our findings reveal a nuanced view of this dual-process model: ethical leadership primarily enhances the relationship between employee HH and moral knowledge, which in turn lowers deviance, whereas its effect on perceived deviance suppression—though present—does not translate as robustly into behavioral outcomes. Results indicate that ethical leadership is most effective at shaping the personality-deviance relationship by activating latent ethical tendencies, contributing to theories of trait activation and workplace deviance antecedents.

Suggested Citation

  • Maerz, Addison & Stackhouse, Madelynn, 2025. "Activating moral knowledge or suppressing deviance? The interactive effects of honesty-humility and ethical leadership on workplace deviance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:200:y:2025:i:c:s0148296325004291
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115606
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