Ashamed of conducting UPB: how ethical leadership influences employees’ reactions to prior UPB

Unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) is currently common among employees and has potential negative ramifications for society as a whole. Thus, such behavior has attracted increasing attention from organizational scholars. However, the effect of employees’ UPB on their counterproductive work behavior (CWB) has yet to be fully established. Based on the moral self-regulation perspective, in this study we developed and tested the effect of employees’ UPB on their subsequent CWB. We applied the experience sampling method using data from 62 insurance brokers and their leaders, collected from various time points and sources, and found that when their leaders demonstrated higher levels of ethical leadership, employees’ UPB was more likely to decrease their subsequent CWB by heightening their perception of a loss of moral credit and thus evoking feelings of shame. This effect became nonsignificant with a low level of ethical leadership. These findings have several theoretical and practical implications, and we suggest directions for future research.