IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v162y2020i2d10.1007_s10551-018-4002-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Safety-Related Moral Disengagement in Response to Job Insecurity: Counterintuitive Effects of Perceived Organizational and Supervisor Support

Author

Listed:
  • Tahira M. Probst

    (Washington State University Vancouver)

  • Laura Petitta

    (Sapienza University of Rome)

  • Claudio Barbaranelli

    (Sapienza University of Rome)

  • Christopher Austin

    (Washington State University Vancouver)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine individual and organizational antecedents and consequences of safety-related moral disengagement. Using Conservation of Resources theory, social exchange theory, and psychological contract breach as a theoretical foundation, this study tested the proposition that higher job insecurity is associated with greater levels of subsequent safety-related moral disengagement, which in turn is related to reduced safety performance. Moreover, we examined whether perceived organizational and supervisor support buffered or intensified the impact of job insecurity on moral disengagement. Using a two-wave lagged design, anonymous survey data collected from N = 389 working adults in the U.S. supported the hypothesized moderated mediation model. Specifically, the conditional indirect effects of job insecurity on safety performance via moral disengagement were intensified as levels of perceived organizational and supervisor support increased. These results suggest that the threat of job insecurity may prompt employee moral disengagement; this effect is even stronger among employees who perceived higher levels of organizational and supervisor support. We interpret these counterintuitive findings in light of increasingly insecure contemporary work arrangements and how these may give rise to potentially unethical safety-related decision making and behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Tahira M. Probst & Laura Petitta & Claudio Barbaranelli & Christopher Austin, 2020. "Safety-Related Moral Disengagement in Response to Job Insecurity: Counterintuitive Effects of Perceived Organizational and Supervisor Support," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 343-358, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:162:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-018-4002-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-018-4002-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-018-4002-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-018-4002-3?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. Przemyslaw Rotengruber, 2015. "Kodeks etyczny samorzadu zawodowego. Gwarancja bezpieczenstwa czy pulapka latwowiernosci?/Ethical Code of Professional Association. Security Guarantee or the Credulity Trap?," Annales. Ethics in Economic Life, University of Lodz, Faculty of Economics and Sociology, vol. 18(1), pages 37-48, February.
    2. Riggle, Robert J. & Edmondson, Diane R. & Hansen, John D., 2009. "A meta-analysis of the relationship between perceived organizational support and job outcomes: 20 years of research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(10), pages 1027-1030, October.
    3. 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.
    4. Laura Petitta & Tahira M. Probst & Claudio Barbaranelli, 2017. "Safety Culture, Moral Disengagement, and Accident Underreporting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 489-504, March.
    5. Alfred L. McAlister, 2001. "Moral Disengagement: Measurement and Modification," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 38(1), pages 87-99, January.
    6. Barsky, Adam J. & Islam, Gazi & Zyphur, Michael J. & Johnson, Emily, 2006. "Investigating the Effects of Moral Disengagement and Participation on Unethical Work Behavior," Insper Working Papers wpe_62, Insper Working Paper, Insper Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa.
    7. Roberta Fida & Marinella Paciello & Carlo Tramontano & Reid Fontaine & Claudio Barbaranelli & Maria Farnese, 2015. "An Integrative Approach to Understanding Counterproductive Work Behavior: The Roles of Stressors, Negative Emotions, and Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 131-144, August.
    8. Celia Moore, 2008. "Moral Disengagement in Processes of Organizational Corruption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 80(1), pages 129-139, June.
    9. Marvin Claybourn, 2011. "Relationships Between Moral Disengagement, Work Characteristics and Workplace Harassment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 100(2), pages 283-301, May.
    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. Paul Lindhout & Genserik Reniers, 2021. "Involving Moral and Ethical Principles in Safety Management Systems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-15, August.
    2. Tuna Karatepe, 2022. "Do Qualitative and Quantitative Job Insecurity Influence Hotel Employees’ Green Work Outcomes?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-17, June.
    3. Zahoor, Nadia & Donbesuur, Francis & Christofi, Michael & Miri, Domnan, 2022. "Technological innovation and employee psychological well-being: The moderating role of employee learning orientation and perceived organizational support," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    4. Nasib Dar & Muhammad Usman & Jin Cheng & Usman Ghani, 2023. "Social Undermining at the Workplace: How Religious Faith Encourages Employees Who are Aware of Their Social Undermining Behaviors to Express More Guilt and Perform Better," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(2), pages 371-383, October.
    5. Shike Li & Kriti Jain & Konstantina Tzini, 2022. "When Supervisor Support Backfires: The Link Between Perceived Supervisor Support and Unethical Pro-supervisor Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 133-151, August.

    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. Ulf Schaefer & Onno Bouwmeester, 2021. "Reconceptualizing Moral Disengagement as a Process: Transcending Overly Liberal and Overly Conservative Practice in the Field," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(3), pages 525-543, September.
    2. Alexander Newman & Huong Le & Andrea North-Samardzic & Michael Cohen, 2020. "Moral Disengagement at Work: A Review and Research Agenda," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 535-570, December.
    3. Roberta Fida & Marinella Paciello & Carlo Tramontano & Reid Fontaine & Claudio Barbaranelli & Maria Farnese, 2015. "An Integrative Approach to Understanding Counterproductive Work Behavior: The Roles of Stressors, Negative Emotions, and Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 131-144, August.
    4. Peixu He & Zhenglong Peng & Hongdan Zhao & Christophe Estay, 2019. "How and When Compulsory Citizenship Behavior Leads to Employee Silence: A Moderated Mediation Model Based on Moral Disengagement and Supervisor–Subordinate Guanxi Views," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 259-274, March.
    5. Remus Ilies & Cathy Yang Guo & Sandy Lim & Kai Chi Yam & Xinxin Li, 2020. "Happy But Uncivil? Examining When and Why Positive Affect Leads to Incivility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(4), pages 595-614, September.
    6. Thang V. Nguyen & Minh H. Doan & Nhung H. Tran, 2021. "The perpetuation of bribery–prone relationships: A study from Vietnamese public officials," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(5), pages 244-256, December.
    7. Nicholas Burton & Mai Chi Vu, 2021. "Moral Identity and the Quaker tradition: Moral Dissonance Negotiation in the WorkPlace," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(1), pages 127-141, November.
    8. Yongbo Sun & Jiajia Zhang, 2019. "Acquiescence or Resistance: Group Norms and Self-Interest Motivation in Unethical Consumer Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-25, April.
    9. Ervin L. Black & F. Greg Burton & Joshua K. Cieslewicz, 2022. "Improving Ethics: Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior to Include Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(4), pages 945-978, December.
    10. Jacqueline C. Wisler, 2018. "U.S. CEOs of SBUs in Luxury Goods Organizations: A Mixed Methods Comparison of Ethical Decision-Making Profiles," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 443-518, May.
    11. Ashley Nicole West & Gary M. Fleischman, 2023. "The Roles of Cynicism, CFO Pressure, and Moral Disengagement on FIN 48 Earnings Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 545-562, July.
    12. J. J. Klerk, 2017. "Nobody is as Blind as Those Who Cannot Bear to See: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Management of Emotions and Moral Blindness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(4), pages 745-761, April.
    13. Xiaoming Zheng & Xin Qin & Xin Liu & Hui Liao, 2019. "Will Creative Employees Always Make Trouble? Investigating the Roles of Moral Identity and Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 653-672, July.
    14. Tina Sendlhofer, 2020. "Decoupling from Moral Responsibility for CSR: Employees' Visionary Procrastination at a SME," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(2), pages 361-378, November.
    15. Ni, Dan & Yang, Mengxi & Luo, Senhan & Chen, Wansi, 2024. "A third-party perspective for examining employee reactions to witnessing coworker incivility towards customers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    16. Marc Ohana & Ghulam Murtaza & Inam ul Haq & Esraa Al-Shatti & Zhang Chi, 2024. "Why and When can CSR toward Employees Lead to Cyberloafing? The Role of Workplace Boredom and Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(1), pages 133-148, January.
    17. Jennifer Kish-Gephart & James Detert & Linda Treviño & Vicki Baker & Sean Martin, 2014. "Situational Moral Disengagement: Can the Effects of Self-Interest be Mitigated?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 267-285, December.
    18. Paul Lindhout & Genserik Reniers, 2021. "Involving Moral and Ethical Principles in Safety Management Systems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-15, August.
    19. Marlond Antunez & Nelson Ramalho & Tânia M. G. Marques, 2024. "Context Matters Less Than Leadership in Preventing Unethical Behaviour in International Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 192(2), pages 307-322, June.
    20. Matthew Valle & K. Michele Kacmar & Suzanne Zivnuska, 2019. "Understanding the Effects of Political Environments on Unethical Behavior in Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 173-188, April.

    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:jbuset:v:162:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-018-4002-3. 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.