Research on the consequences of employees’ unethical pro-organizational behavior: The moderating role of moral identity

Introduction In recent years, employees’ unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) has become a social hot issue. This behavior benefits their organization or colleagues while violating core social ethics. Numerous studies have predominately focused on identifying the antecedents and formation mechanisms of UPB. However, only a few studies have focused on the effects and outcomes of UPB. Moreover, guilt triggered by unethical behaviors can motivate individuals to adopt pro-social behaviors, but studies on the effects of UPB on pro-social behavior of actors are rather limited. Therefore, this study explores the underlying relationship between employees’ UPB and their own pro-environmental behavior based on the conservation of resources theory. Methods Through collecting data (N = 319) from a Chinese online survey company in different time intervals, the theoretical model was tested by the application of Amos 27.0 and SPSS 25.0 for analysis of the data. The CFA, descriptive analysis, hierarchical regression were illustrated in the article. Results This study demonstrated that, through emotions of guilt, employees’ UPB is negatively correlated with their own environmental protection act. While this relationship is being examined, moral identity plays this mediating role, which can moderate the indirect relationship between employees’ UPB and their environmental behavior through guilt. Discussion The purpose of the research was to identify the influence mechanisms that contribute to employees’ pro-organizational but unethical behavior. With guilt serving as the mediating variable and moral identity serving as the moderating variable, a research model built on the principle of the conservation of resources theory was constructed. This research examines the impact mechanism and boundary conditions of UPB on individual pro-environmental behaviors from the perspective of employees. This paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the report’s results.