Why pro-organizational unethical behavior contributes to helping and innovative behaviors: the mediating roles of psychological entitlement and perceived insider status

Abstract

The increasing competition in the corporate world has pressured employees to engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Over the past decade, scholars have sought to explore the antecedents and consequences of UPB. Nonetheless, little research has been done on why UPB can contribute to helping and innovative behaviors. Our research fills this gap by proposing psychological entitlement and perceived insider status as mediators between UPB and helping and innovative behaviors from the perspectives of moral licensing and social identity theories. We tested the serial mediation by administering a two-wave online survey to 345 South Korean employees in various industries. The results revealed that employees' UPB positively and indirectly impacted their helping and innovative behaviors by engendering the cognitive processes of psychological entitlement and perceived insider status. A cross-sectional replication study involving 300 employees corroborated these results. These findings provide novel insights into the cognitive processes underpinning the relationship between UPB and extra-role behaviors.