IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/asiapa/v36y2019i1d10.1007_s10490-018-9567-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Service employees’ concurrent adaptive and unethical behaviors in complex or non-routine tasks: The effects of customer control and self-monitoring personality

Author

Listed:
  • Jixia Yang

    (City University of Hong Kong)

  • Kuo Hui Frank Yu

    (University of California, Berkeley)

  • Chi-Jui Huang

    (National Taipei University)

Abstract

We investigate how uncertainty-ridden task environments simultaneously trigger both positive and negative coping behaviors among front-line service employees. We suggest that complex and non-routine tasks give rise to employees’ exercise of both creative discretion such as adaptive selling and deviant discretion such as unethical selling behavior. Moreover, customer control moderates these relations by constraining employees’ adaptive selling and encouraging unethical selling. We propose three-way interactions, where an employee’s self-monitoring trait further influences customer control’s moderating effects. We collected 798 service episodes from 55 financial service employees in Hong Kong and Taiwan. We find that task complexity and task non-routineness relate to adaptive selling and unethical selling; low self-monitors engage in most adaptive selling in complex tasks with low controlling customers; and high monitors engage in most unethical selling in non-routine tasks with high controlling customers. Our person-environment-process model informs front-line discretion theory as well as management and practice of front-line discretion.

Suggested Citation

  • Jixia Yang & Kuo Hui Frank Yu & Chi-Jui Huang, 2019. "Service employees’ concurrent adaptive and unethical behaviors in complex or non-routine tasks: The effects of customer control and self-monitoring personality," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 245-273, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:36:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10490-018-9567-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10490-018-9567-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10490-018-9567-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10490-018-9567-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angelis, Jannis & Parry, Glenn & Macintyre, Mairi, 2012. "Discretion and complexity in customer focused environments," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 466-472.
    2. An-tien Hsieh & Chang-hua Yen, 2005. "The effect of customer participation on service providers' job stress," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(7), pages 891-905, October.
    3. Diana C. Robertson & Erin Anderson, 1993. "Control System and Task Environment Effects on Ethical Judgment: An Exploratory Study of Industrial Salespeople," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(4), pages 617-644, November.
    4. Dong Ju & Xin Qin & Minya Xu & Marco S. DiRenzo, 2016. "Boundary conditions of the emotional exhaustion-unsafe behavior link: The dark side of group norms and personal control," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 113-140, March.
    5. Arran Caza, 2012. "Typology of the Eight Domains of Discretion in Organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 144-177, January.
    6. Fandt, Patricia M. & Ferris, Gerald R., 1990. "The management of information and impressions: When employees behave opportunistically," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 140-158, February.
    7. Laura J. Noval & Günter K. Stahl, 2017. "Accounting for Proscriptive and Prescriptive Morality in the Workplace: The Double-Edged Sword Effect of Mood on Managerial Ethical Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 589-602, May.
    8. Mead, N.L. & Baumeister, R.F. & Gino, F. & Schweitzer, M.E. & Ariely, D., 2009. "Too tired to tell the truth : Self-control resource depletion and dishonesty," Other publications TiSEM c60167a3-c3aa-4b83-9192-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Kristopher J. Preacher & Patrick J. Curran & Daniel J. Bauer, 2006. "Computational Tools for Probing Interactions in Multiple Linear Regression, Multilevel Modeling, and Latent Curve Analysis," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 31(4), pages 437-448, December.
    10. Adam Barsky, 2011. "Investigating the Effects of Moral Disengagement and Participation on Unethical Work Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(1), pages 59-75, November.
    11. Summers, James K. & Munyon, Timothy P. & Perryman, Alexa A. & Ferris, Gerald R., 2010. "Dysfunctional executive behavior: What can organizations do?," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 581-590, November.
    12. Karl E. Weick & Kathleen M. Sutcliffe & David Obstfeld, 2005. "Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(4), pages 409-421, August.
    13. Margaret Peteraf & Randal Reed, 2007. "Managerial discretion and internal alignment under regulatory constraints and change," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(11), pages 1089-1112, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ming Kong & Jie Xin & Wenxiao Xu & Haonan Li & Dandan Xu, 2022. "The moral licensing effect between work effort and unethical pro-organizational behavior: The moderating influence of Confucian value," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 515-537, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Filstad, Cathrine & Olsen, Trude Høgvold & Karp, Tom, 2021. "Constructing managerial manoeuvring space in contradictory contexts," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 467-475.
    2. Little, Cedric & Felzensztein, Christian & Gimmon, Eli & Muñoz, Pablo, 2015. "The business management of the Chilean salmon farming industry," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 108-117.
    3. Carlos Martin-Rios, 2016. "Innovative management control systems in knowledge work: a middle manager perspective," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 181-204, May.
    4. Verena Brinks, 2016. "Situated affect and collective meaning: A community perspective on processes of value creation and commercialization in enthusiast-driven fields," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(6), pages 1152-1169, June.
    5. Gill, David & Prowse, Victoria & Vlassopoulos, Michael, 2013. "Cheating in the workplace: An experimental study of the impact of bonuses and productivity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 120-134.
    6. Stefan Gröschl & Patricia Gabaldón & Tobias Hahn, 2019. "The Co-evolution of Leaders’ Cognitive Complexity and Corporate Sustainability: The Case of the CEO of Puma," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 741-762, March.
    7. Elena Antonacopoulou, 2018. "Energising critique in action and in learning: The GNOSIS 4R Framework," Action Learning: Research and Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 102-125, May.
    8. Gary M. Fleischman & Eric N. Johnson & Kenton B. Walker & Sean R. Valentine, 2019. "Ethics Versus Outcomes: Managerial Responses to Incentive-Driven and Goal-Induced Employee Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(4), pages 951-967, September.
    9. Manolis, Chris & Nygaard, Arne & Stillerud, Bård, 1997. "Uncertainty and vertical control: An international investigation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 6(5), pages 501-518, October.
    10. Bing, Mark N. & Kluemper, Don & Kristl Davison, H. & Taylor, Shannon & Novicevic, Milorad, 2011. "Overclaiming as a measure of faking," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 148-162, September.
    11. Guiette, Alain & Vandenbempt, Koen, 2017. "Change managerialism and micro-processes of sensemaking during change implementation," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 65-81.
    12. Pandza, Krsto & Ellwood, Paul, 2013. "Strategic and ethical foundations for responsible innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 1112-1125.
    13. Martina Linnenluecke & Andrew Griffiths & Peter Mumby, 2015. "Executives’ engagement with climate science and perceived need for business adaptation to climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 321-333, July.
    14. Per Engelseth & Richard Glavee-Geo & Artur Janusz & Enoch Niboi, 2020. "The Emergent Nature of Networked Sustainable Procurement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, December.
    15. Femke Hilverda & Margôt Kuttschreuter, 2018. "Online Information Sharing About Risks: The Case of Organic Food," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(9), pages 1904-1920, September.
    16. Jeffery S. McMullen & Dimo Dimov, 2013. "Time and the Entrepreneurial Journey: The Problems and Promise of Studying Entrepreneurship as a Process," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(8), pages 1481-1512, December.
    17. Marie Claire Villeval, 2019. "Comportements (non) éthiques et stratégies morales," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 70(6), pages 1021-1046.
    18. Emil Evenhuis, 2017. "Institutional change in cities and regions: a path dependency approach," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 10(3), pages 509-526.
    19. Minkkinen, Matti, 2019. "The anatomy of plausible futures in policy processes: Comparing the cases of data protection and comprehensive security," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 172-180.
    20. Stea, Diego & Foss, Nicolai J. & Christensen, Peter Holdt, 2015. "Physical separation in the workplace: Separation cues, separation awareness, and employee motivation," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 462-471.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:36:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10490-018-9567-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.