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The More You Care, the Worthier I Feel, the Better I Behave: How and When Supervisor Support Influences (Un)Ethical Employee Behavior

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Francesco Sguera
Francesco Sguera
Francesco Sguera
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Richard P. Bagozzi
Richard P. Bagozzi
Richard P. Bagozzi
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Quy Nguyen Huy at INSEAD
Quy Nguyen Huy
R. Wayne Boss
R. Wayne Boss
R. Wayne Boss
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Abstract and Figures

This article investigates the effects of perceived supervisor support on ethical (organizational citizenship behaviors) and unethical employee behavior (counterproductive workplace behavior) using a multi-method approach (one experiment and one field survey with multiple waves and supervisor ratings of employees). Specifically, we test the mediating mechanism (i.e., supervisor-based self-esteem) and a boundary condition (i.e., employee task satisfaction) that moderate the relationship between support and (un)ethical employee behaviors. We find that supervisor-based self-esteem fully mediates the relationship between supervisor support and (un)ethical employee behavior and that employee task satisfaction intensifies the relationship between supervisor support and supervisor-based self-esteem.
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The More You Care, the Worthier I Feel, the Better I Behave:
How and When Supervisor Support Influences (Un)Ethical
Employee Behavior
Francesco Sguera
1
•Richard P. Bagozzi
2
•
Quy N. Huy
3
•R. Wayne Boss
4
•David S. Boss
5
Received: 17 February 2016 / Accepted: 21 September 2016 / Published online: 5 October 2016
Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016
Abstract This article investigates the effects of perceived
supervisor support on ethical (organizational citizenship
behaviors) and unethical employee behavior (counterpro-
ductive workplace behavior) using a multi-method
approach (one experiment and one field survey with mul-
tiple waves and supervisor ratings of employees). Specifi-
cally, we test the mediating mechanism (i.e., supervisor-
based self-esteem) and a boundary condition (i.e.,
employee task satisfaction) that moderate the relationship
between support and (un)ethical employee behaviors. We
find that supervisor-based self-esteem fully mediates the
relationship between supervisor support and (un)ethical
employee behavior and that employee task satisfaction
intensifies the relationship between supervisor support and
supervisor-based self-esteem.
Keywords Perceived supervisor support Ethical and
unethical employee behavior Supervisor-based self-
esteem Task satisfaction Organizational citizenship
behavior Counterproductive workplace behavior
Introduction
Supervisors play a critical role in every organization by
influencing subordinates’ behavior and thus organizational
effectiveness (Eisenberger et al. 2002). Supervisors can
enhance employee positive behavior by signaling that
employees will get support to carry out their tasks and deal
with stressful situations (George et al. 1993; Stinglhamber
and Vandenberghe 2003). The literature on perceived
supervisor support (PSS; Kottke and Sharafinski 1988)
suggests that employees’ beliefs that supervisors care about
their well-being elicit felt obligations so that subordinates
then reciprocate with actions exhibiting care for the orga-
nization’s welfare (Foa and Foa 1980). Such caring may
involve enhanced task performance, as well as important
altruistic behaviors that go beyond formal job require-
ments. For example, several studies have shown that
supervisor support promotes positive work outcomes such
as reduced turnover (Eisenberger et al. 2002; Maertz et al.
2007), lower employee cynicism (Cole et al. 2006), higher
job satisfaction (Griffin et al. 2001), and engagement in
extra-role behaviors (Chen and Chiu 2008; Shanock and
Eisenberger 2006). Recently, a small but growing number
of studies have started to investigate the effects of first-line
supervisor actions for ethical employee conduct (Jacobs
et al. 2014; Lloyd et al. 2015). By adopting a behavioral
ethics perspective, we contribute to this stream of research
and investigate ‘‘how’’ and ‘‘when’’ supervisor support
influences employees’ ethical behavior.
&Francesco Sguera
fsguera@ucp.pt
Richard P. Bagozzi
bagozzi@umich.edu
Quy N. Huy
quy.huy@insead.edu
R. Wayne Boss
wayne.boss@colorado.edu
David S. Boss
boss@ohio.edu
1
UCP, Cato
´lica-Lisbon School of Business and Economics,
Palma de Cima, 1649-023, Lisbon, Portugal
2
Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
USA
3
INSEAD, Singapore, Singapore
4
Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder,
Boulder, USA
5
Ohio College of Business, Athens, USA
123
J Bus Ethics (2018) 153:615–628
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3339-8
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... This may lead to some financial and or non-financial ramifications for the firm. Employees who show high production deviance may be likely to accept tasks when their supervisors are strict but will end up showing uncooperative behaviors (Sguera et al. 2018). ...
... Employees who engage in theft take or transfer funds and other company assets into their accounts. This will likely generate adverse outcomes for the firm as finances that can be leveraged to obtain other financial or non-financial gains decrease (Sguera et al. 2018). Another production deviance that can affect organizational performance is that employees give out firm properties to others to use at no cost or unjustifiable discounts. ...
... When leaders identify opportunities and help employees see them collectively, it helps increase the commitment of employees in the firm. Highly competent leaders can take on creative innovations in collaboration with their peers or followers to attain organizational outcomes in a timely fashion (Sguera et al. 2018). This result is achievable when leaders are downto-earth and will always want to empathize with followers compared to setting up control systems, thus: H5: Leader-follower collaboration will positively moderate the relationship between Production deviance and organizational performance in SOEs. ...
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