Psychological Entitlement and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior: The Role of Ethical Leadership

In this study, we examine the relationship between employee psychological entitlement and the proclivity to display unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) undertaken with the aim of benefiting the organization. Predicated on attribution theory, we hypothesize that higher levels of psychological entitlement, the belief that one should receive desirable treatment irrespective of whether it is deserved, will increase the likelihood of this particular type of unethical behavior. Furthermore, we hypothesize that through a social learning perspective ethical leaders can mitigate some of the negative effects of entitlement. The results, which were based on two-phase data from a sample of 75 teams comprising 260 participants, provided support for our hypotheses; showing that psychological entitlement was positively related to subordinates’ levels of UPB. Moreover, ethical leadership mitigated the effect of the relationship. To reduce the occurrence of UPB, organizations may incorporate ethical training into their leadership training programs and encourage leaders to communicate the importance of ethics to followers with high levels of psychological entitlement on a regular basis.