Supervisor to employee bottom-line mentality: The mediating role of moral disengagement and the moderating roles of organizational justice and self-efficacy

Bottom-line mentality (BLM) is a one-dimensional frame of mind that focuses on attaining bottom-line objectives at the expense of competing priorities. This study offers insights into how and when employees are likely to develop a BLM in the workplace. Specifically, drawing on social cognitive theory, we extend the limited research on antecedents of employee BLM by building and testing a moderated-mediation model delineating the process whereby supervisor BLM facilitates employee BLM via the mediating role of employee moral disengagement. In keeping with social cognitive theory, we also argue that organizational justice and self-efficacy play crucial moderating roles in influencing the magnitude of the proposed mediated relationship. Our sample utilizes time-lagged, multi-source data (i.e., subordinate-supervisor dyads, N = 189) and provides general support for our hypotheses while controlling for moral identity and negative affectivity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and promising directions for future research are offered.