IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v12y2025i1d10.1057_s41599-025-04769-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The ethical threat of loneliness: the impact of workplace loneliness on cheating behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Rui Yan

    (Harbin Institute of Technology)

  • Yang Yang

    (Harbin Institute of Technology)

  • Manlu Zhao

    (Harbin Institute of Technology)

Abstract

With the prevalence of remote work and hybrid work, face-to-face socialization opportunities between employees have been on the decline, leading to more and more employees experiencing loneliness at work. To identify the impact of experiencing loneliness on employees’ unethical behavior, this study investigated the relationship between workplace loneliness and employees’ workplace cheating behavior. Based on self-regulation theory, we explored the mediating role of emotional exhaustion and the moderating effect of task visibility from the perspective of self-regulation impairment. Through three-wave data collection and analysis involving 332 employees working from home, our results indicated that workplace loneliness can promote employees’ workplace cheating behavior by increasing emotional exhaustion. Especially in environments with low task visibility, our hypothesis was more strongly supported. This study extends the negative outcomes of workplace loneliness from the perspective of employees’ unethical behavior and reveals the mechanisms behind this relationship. It provides valuable theoretical and practical insights into understanding the potential ethical challenges of workplace loneliness and how the task characteristics of remote work influence the negative outcomes of workplace loneliness.

Suggested Citation

  • Rui Yan & Yang Yang & Manlu Zhao, 2025. "The ethical threat of loneliness: the impact of workplace loneliness on cheating behavior," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-04769-0
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-04769-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-04769-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-025-04769-0?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. Corinna Ewelt-Knauer & Anja Schwering & Sandra Winkelmann, 2022. "Doing Good by Doing Bad: How Tone at the Top and Tone at the Bottom Impact Performance-Improving Noncompliant Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(3), pages 609-624, January.
    2. Gianluca F Delfino & Berend van der Kolk, 2021. "Remote working, management control changes and employee responses during the COVID-19 crisis," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 34(6), pages 1376-1387, April.
    3. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-06-2020-4657 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Jaakson, Krista & Vadi, Maaja & Baumane-Vitolina, Ilona & Sumilo, Erika, 2017. "Virtue in small business in small places: Organisational factors associated with employee dishonest behaviour in the retail sector," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 168-176.
    5. Mamta Mohapatra & Poornima Madan & Shalini Srivastava, 2023. "Loneliness at Work: Its Consequences and Role of Moderators," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 24(3), pages 433-450, June.
    6. Lawrence, Ericka R. & Kacmar, K. Michele, 2017. "Exploring the Impact of Job Insecurity on Employees’ Unethical Behavior," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(1), pages 39-70, 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. Rajat Roy & Anirban Som & Vik Naidoo & Fazlul K. Rabbanee, 2024. "How Envy Encourages Beliefs in Unethical Consumer Behaviour: The Role of Religiosity and Moral Awareness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 193(2), pages 345-361, August.
    2. Jasper Brinkerink, 2023. "When Shooting for the Stars Becomes Aiming for Asterisks: P-Hacking in Family Business Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(2), pages 304-343, March.
    3. Lin Xu & Jigan Wang, 2020. "Influence of Challenge–Hindrance Stressors on Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior: Mediating Role of Emotions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-17, September.
    4. Zhu Yao & Jinlian Luo & Na Fu & Xianchun Zhang & Qunchao Wan, 2022. "Rational Counterattack: The Impact of Workplace Bullying on Unethical Pro-organizational and Pro-family Behaviors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(3), pages 661-682, December.
    5. Kangmin Lee, 2020. "The Effect of Supervisor Identification on Unethical Pro-Supervisor Behavior: The Moderating Role of Employability Perceptions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-16, December.
    6. Tomasz Gigol, 2020. "Gender Differences in Engagement in Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior—Two Studies in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    7. Lifang Shu & Haiying Wei & Leiqing Peng, 2019. "Making the Customer Orientation of Salespeople Unsustainable—The Moderating Effect of Emotional Exhaustion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-15, January.
    8. Ning Cai & Wen He & Guoqiang Wu & Xin Yu, 2024. "Online voting and minority shareholder dissent: Evidence from China," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 53(2), pages 327-352, June.
    9. Cheng, Ken & Wei, Feng & Lin, Yinghui, 2019. "The trickle-down effect of responsible leadership on unethical pro-organizational behavior: The moderating role of leader-follower value congruence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 34-43.
    10. Chan, Christopher & Ananthram, Subramaniam & Thaker, Keyur & Liu, Yi, 2022. "Do religiosity and ethical principles influence ethical decision-making in a multi-faith context? Evidence from India," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 772-785.
    11. Ibrahim A. Elshaer & Marwa Ghanem & Alaa M. S. Azazz, 2022. "An Unethical Organizational Behavior for the Sake of the Family: Perceived Risk of Job Insecurity, Family Motivation and Financial Pressures," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-16, May.
    12. Vranka, Marek & Frollová, Nikola & Pour, Marek & Novakova, Julie & Houdek, Petr, 2019. "Cheating customers in grocery stores: A field study on dishonesty," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    13. Gianni Onesti & Riccardo Palumbo, 2023. "Tone at the Top for Sustainable Corporate Governance to Prevent Fraud," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, January.
    14. Alshurafa, Mohammed & Aboramadan, Mohammed & Haniffa, Roszaini, 2023. "Digital postcolonialism and NGO accountability during COVID-19: Evidence from the Gaza Strip," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(5).
    15. Murad Ali & Imran Ali & Gema Albort-Morant & Antonio Luis Leal-Rodríguez, 2021. "How do job insecurity and perceived well-being affect expatriate employees’ willingness to share or hide knowledge?," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 185-210, March.
    16. Zahid Yousaf & Magdalena Radulescu, 2024. "Does Organizational Virtue Crop-Up Organizational Justice? Accessing the Mediating Role of Moral Identity," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 9420-9439, June.
    17. Xie, Junyi & Ifie, Kemefasu & Gruber, Thorsten, 2022. "The dual threat of COVID-19 to health and job security – Exploring the role of mindfulness in sustaining frontline employee-related outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 216-227.
    18. Ibrahim A. Elshaer & Alaa M. S. Azazz & Samar K. Saad, 2022. "Unethical Organization Behavior: Antecedents and Consequences in the Tourism Industry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-15, April.
    19. Ingi Runar Edvardsson & Johanna Gardarsdottir, 2023. "Navigating Uncharted Waters: Exploring Leaders’ Challenges in the Era of COVID-19 and the Rise of Telework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-24, November.
    20. Damola Victor Akinwande & Georgios Boustras & Omoye Mary Akhagba & Chizubem Benson, 2025. "Socio-Economic Impacts of Crisis Management: A Focus on Lockdown and Remote Work Effectiveness During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Merits, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-22, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-04769-0. 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: https://www.nature.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.