The nonlinear impact of perceptions of organizational politics on unethical pro-organizational behavior in Chinese culture: Moderating role of Zhongyong

Abstract

In this study, we examined the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics (POP) and unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB), which is defined as the unethical behaviors adopted by employees to potentially benefit their organizations. Furthermore, we tested the moderating effect of Zhongyong, a traditional Chinese thinking style, on the POP–UPB relationship. Drawing on social learning theory, we hypothesized that POP has an inverted U-shaped relationship with UPB and that Zhongyong can have flattening and turning-point moderating impacts on this curvilinear relationship. In Study 1, a scenario-based experiment with a sample size of 95 was conducted to test the inverted U-shaped relationship between POP and UPB. In Study 2, we replicated the findings of Study 1 using a two-wave survey featuring 227 participants and further tested the moderating role of Zhongyong in this context. These findings improve our understanding of the influence of employees’ POP on their UPB.