Why Machiavellian employees engage in unethical behavior: Examining the roles of moral disengagement, moral flexibility, and (un)ethical leadership

Abstract

This research examines how and when employee Machiavellianism could be harmful to organizations and their members. Two explanatory mechanisms, moral disengagement, and moral flexibility were proposed and tested in the relationship between employee Machiavellianism and employee negative behaviors (unethical and deviant behaviors). In addition, effects of leadership styles (ethical leadership and abusive supervision) on the mechanisms were examined. A latent moderated structural equation (LMSE) modeling was utilized on the multi-source/multi-wave data of 226 working adults in the United States. Results showed that moral disengagement mediates the relationship between employee Machiavellianism and employee negative behaviors while moral flexibility does not. Ethical leadership deter Machiavellian employees to initiate both explanatory mechanisms while abusive supervision does not exacerbate the ill-effects. Additionally, moral flexibility measure was conceptualized and validated in the present dissertation.