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Rebellion Under Exploitation: How and When Exploitative Leadership Evokes Employees’ Workplace Deviance

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Abstract

Drawing on the perspective of causal reasoning and the social cognitive theory of moral thought and action, this study explores the mechanisms underlying the association between exposure to exploitative leadership and employee workplace deviance. The results of a time-lagged survey conducted in China reveal that exposure to exploitative leadership can evoke a moral justification process that leads to increased employee organizational and interpersonal deviance. A tendency toward hostile attribution bias reinforces the direct link between exploitative leadership and moral justification and the indirect effects of exploitative leadership on employee organizational and interpersonal deviance, via moral justification. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed and potential directions for future studies are proposed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Numbers 71902111, 72102148); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant Number 20720201013); Shenzhen Natural Science Fund (the Stable Support Plan Program No. 20200810161833001); China Europe International Business School (Grant Numbers AG21TEO, AG22HPL).

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  1. Yijing Lyu, Long-Zeng Wu, and Yijiao Ye have contributed equally to this work, and the authorship is listed alphabetically.

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  1. School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

    Yijing Lyu & Long-Zeng Wu

  2. College of Management, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

    Yijiao Ye

  3. Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management Department, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Shanghai, China

    Ho Kwong Kwan

  4. Department of Management, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China

    Yuanyi Chen

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  1. Yijing Lyu
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Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress. —Napoléon Bonaparte (1769–1821).

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Lyu, Y., Wu, LZ., Ye, Y. et al. Rebellion Under Exploitation: How and When Exploitative Leadership Evokes Employees’ Workplace Deviance. J Bus Ethics 185, 483–498 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05207-w

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