How Unethical Pro-organizational Behavior Links to Actors’ and Observers’ Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Scholars have paid great attention to unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB), however, there is a lack of a comprehensive review to uncover the consequences of UPB. It is important to fulfill the need for a quantitative review of the outcomes associated with UPB. Therefore, we construct a holistic framework to explore the difference between actors and observers in responding to unethical pro-organizational behavior and test it using meta-analysis technology (k = 53, n = 18,710). The meta-analytic results show that actors’ UPB is positively related to actors’ counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs), actors’ organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), and observers’ UPB. Actors’ UPB increases actors’ CWBs via actors’ psychological entitlement, and it increases actors’ OCBs via actors’ guilt. In addition, actors’ UPB also increases observers’ UPB via observers’ moral disengagement. Actors’ organizational tenure positively moderates the relationship between actors’ UPB and actors’ CWBs. Our findings draw attention to the outcomes of UPB and have reference significance for future research on UPB.