Good Deeds Gone Wrong: How Leader Self-Sacrifice Morally Licenses Followers Counterproductive Work Behaviors

<p>Leader self-sacrifice (LSS) plays a key role for many companies today. It involves the leader temporarily forgoing their own interests and privileges for the sake of the collective. By modeling self-sacrificial behavior, leaders hope to create a trickle-down effect, encouraging similar behavior within their workforce. While LSS is typically perceived as a positive behavior that inspires ethical conduct and teamwork, not all employees may respond positively. According to social identity theory, group members might take on the attributes of their close others’ behaviors, as if they had done the behavior themselves. Furthermore, based on moral licensing theory, good behavior may grant individuals a moral license, authorizing them to behave unethically. Combining these two theories results in a vicarious moral licensing effect, where individuals can even gain a moral license from their boss’ good behavior. This dissertation examines whether LSS can grant followers a vicarious moral license, potentially leading to increased counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs). Additionally, the moderating effects of leader group prototypicality (LGP) and organizational justice on the relationship between LSS, moral identity, and CWBs are explored. I conduct three studies to examine the mediating effect of moral licensing, and the moderating effects of LGP and organizational justice, on CWBs. In Study 1, I gathered quantitative data from 250 participants through an online survey on Prolific with temporally separated independent variables, moderators and mediators, and dependent variables to test the full multiple mediated moderation model. Using experimental vignettes on Prolific, I then empirically tested the effects of leader self-sacrifice on follower moral identity and the moderating effect of perceptions of LGP with 254 participants (Study 2a); and the effects of moral identity on interpersonal passive counterproductive work behaviors and the moderating effect of organizational justice with 255 participants (Study 2b). The mixed results reveal the complex nature of the relationships between LSS, follower moral identity, and CWBs, suggesting that while LSS can activate moral identity and reduce CWBs, its effects are contingent on contextual factors such as LGP and organizational justice. In particular, the impact of follower moral identity on interpersonal passive CWBs varied depending on the level of organizational justice, revealing a crossover interaction. The findings of this dissertation challenge the assumption that LSS invariably leads to positive outcomes and introduce the potential for vicarious moral licensing under certain conditions. These studies contribute to the theoretical understanding of LSS, moral identity, and CWBs, while also highlighting the importance of contextual factors like LGP and organizational justice in determining the outcomes of LSS. The findings provide valuable insights for organizations seeking to foster ethical behavior and reduce CWBs, emphasizing the need for alignment between leadership behaviors and broader organizational conditions to achieve desired outcomes. Understanding the dual potential of LSS to inspire both ethical and counterproductive behaviors is essential for designing effective leadership strategies.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Psychology, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation

Year dc:date.available

2024

Author dc:creator

• Chow, Christopher Matthew

Contributors dc:contributor

• Gloria González-Morales
• Stewart I. Donaldson
• Karl Aquino

• counterproductive work behaviors
• leader group prototypicality
• leader self-sacrifice
• moral identity
• moral licensing
• organizational justice
• Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/893

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-1915