IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/buseth/v31y2022i2p495-507.html

High performance yet ethically risky? A self‐regulation perspective on the double‐edged sword effects of the performance‐oriented human resource system

Author

Listed:
  • Guanglei Zhang
  • Huaying Wang
  • Rong Ma
  • Mingze Li

Abstract

Performance‐oriented human resource system (HRS) brings both benefits and risks to organizations. Prior studies mainly reported the positive impact of performance orientated HRS on organizational and employee performance, ignoring its negative impact on employee behavior. Based on self‐regulation theory, this paper examines the double‐edged sword effects of performance‐oriented HRS on employee outcomes. Multiwave data from a total of 253 employees indicated that perceived performance‐oriented HRS can predict employees’ concerns with performance. This system could improve their willingness for self‐development, but it may also reduce employees’ moral awareness, which increases employees’ unethical behavior. Employees’ self‐control moderates the negative effects of performance‐oriented HRS; that is, when employees’ self‐control is low, performance‐oriented HRS leads to a stronger influence on employees’ unethical behaviors through moral awareness than when it is high. The results enhance our knowledge of the effects of performance‐oriented HRS on employees’ attitudinal and behavioral outcomes and provide new insights for countering the negative effects of performance‐oriented HRS in organizational human resource practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Guanglei Zhang & Huaying Wang & Rong Ma & Mingze Li, 2022. "High performance yet ethically risky? A self‐regulation perspective on the double‐edged sword effects of the performance‐oriented human resource system," Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 495-507, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:buseth:v:31:y:2022:i:2:p:495-507
    DOI: 10.1111/beer.12397
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12397
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/beer.12397?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Godard, 2001. "Beyond the High‐Performance Paradigm? An Analysis of Variation in Canadian Managerial Perceptions of Reform Programme Effectiveness," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 39(1), pages 25-52, March.
    2. Treviño, Linda Klebe & Weaver, Gary R., 2001. "Organizational Justice and Ethics Program “Follow-Through”: Influences on Employees’ Harmful and Helpful Behavior," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(4), pages 651-671, October.
    3. Garbarino, Ellen C & Edell, Julie A, 1997. "Cognitive Effort, Affect, and Choice," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(2), pages 147-158, September.
    4. Jiing-Lih Farh & Chen-Bo Zhong & Dennis W. Organ, 2004. "Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the People's Republic of China," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(2), pages 241-253, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Guohua He & Xinnian Zheng & Wenpu Li & Ling Tan & Siying Chen & Yifan He, 2024. "The Mixed Blessing of Leaders’ Artificial Intelligence (AI)-oriented Change Behavior: Implications for Employee Job Performance and Unethical Behavior," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 469-497, April.

    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. An-Chih Wang & Jack Ting-Ju Chiang & Wan-Ju Chou & Bor-Shiuan Cheng, 2017. "One definition, different manifestations: Investigating ethical leadership in the Chinese context," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 505-535, September.
    2. Xiaowei Yang & Shumin Yan & Jiang He & Junjie Dong, 2022. "Review and Prospects of Enterprise Human Resource Management Effectiveness: Bibliometric Analysis Based on Chinese-Language and English-Language Journals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Muel Kaptein, 2015. "The Effectiveness of Ethics Programs: The Role of Scope, Composition, and Sequence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 415-431, December.
    4. Rosenboim, Mosi & Shavit, Tal & Cohen, Chen, 2013. "Do bidders require a monetary premium for cognitive effort in an auction?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 99-105.
    5. repec:arp:tjssrr:2019:p:128-139 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. DaYeon Choi & Insuk Lee & SangHoon Kang & HyunKue Lee, 2024. "The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Attribution on Socially Responsible Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Meaningfulness of Work," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-17, December.
    7. David Guest & Christopher Woodrow, 2012. "Exploring the Boundaries of Human Resource Managers’ Responsibilities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 109-119, November.
    8. Jie Yang & Jieqiong Ma & Hongxin Zhao & Jim Cater & Mark Arnold, 2019. "Family involvement, environmental turbulence, and R&D investment: evidence from Listed Chinese SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 1017-1032, December.
    9. Blanchflower, David G. & Bryson, Alex & Forth, John, 2006. "Workplace Industrial Relations in Britain, 1980-2004," IZA Discussion Papers 2518, IZA Network @ LISER.
    10. John Godard, 2001. "High Performance and the Transformation of Work? The Implications of Alternative Work Practices for the Experience and Outcomes of Work," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 54(4), pages 776-805, July.
    11. Castro-Santa, Juana & Drews, Stefan & Bergh, Jeroen van den, 2023. "Nudging low-carbon consumption through advertising and social norms," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    12. 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.
    13. Kanika Bhal & Anubha Dadhich, 2011. "Impact of Ethical Leadership and Leader–Member Exchange on Whistle Blowing: The Moderating Impact of the Moral Intensity of the Issue," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(3), pages 485-496, October.
    14. Irina Cojuharenco & Garriy Shteynberg & Michele Gelfand & Marshall Schminke, 2012. "Self-Construal and Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(4), pages 447-461, September.
    15. Sahay, Arvind, 2013. "A Customer Oriented Approach To Identifying Competitive Advantage," IIMA Working Papers WP2013-05-08, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    16. Bastos, Wilson, 2020. "“Speaking of Purchases”: How Conversational Potential Determines Consumers' Willingness to Exert Effort for Experiential Versus Material Purchases," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-16.
    17. Brian Whitaker & Lindsey Godwin, 2013. "The Antecedents of Moral Imagination in the Workplace: A Social Cognitive Theory Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(1), pages 61-73, April.
    18. Yang Chen & Yanxia Wang & Fang Lee Cooke & Lin Lin & Pascal Paillé & Olivier Boiral, 2023. "Is abusive supervision harmful to organizational environmental performance? Evidence from China," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(2), pages 689-712, April.
    19. Marko Pitesa & Stefan Thau, 2013. "Compliant sinners, obstinate saints: How power and self-focus determine the effectiveness of social influences in ethical decision making," Post-Print hal-00814614, HAL.
    20. Santhosh V.A., 2015. "A Study on the Impact of Workplace Commuting on Citizenship Behaviour of Employees Working with Public and Private Sector Organizations," Vision, , vol. 19(1), pages 13-24, March.
    21. Bauer, Kevin & Nofer, Michael & Abdel-Karim, Benjamin M. & Hinz, Oliver, 2022. "The effects of discontinuing machine learning decision support," SAFE Working Paper Series 370, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.

    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:wly:buseth:v:31:y:2022:i:2:p:495-507. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/26946424 .

    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.