Performance goal orientation and unethical pro-organizational behavior: a moderated mediation model

Existing unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) literature suggests that it includes two definitional components: committing to achieving beneficial consequences for the organization and violating standards of ethical behavior. Existing research examining individual differences’ effects on UPB has mainly focused on moral traits and largely ignored performance-related ones, such as performance goal orientation. To address this theoretical blind spot, drawing from the general risk-taking perspective, we investigated how and when performance goal orientations shape employee UPB. We first conducted a business simulation study (Study 1) with 86 undergraduate students and found that performance-approach goal orientation had a positive effect on UPB engagement. Next, we sampled 446 employees from 93 teams (Study 2). Results showed that the relationship between performance-approach goal orientation and UPB was mediated by risk taking. Furthermore, performance-avoidance goal orientation was negatively related to risk taking and subsequent UPB for individuals perceive lower levels of UPB injunctive norm induced by higher ethical leadership. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications, and offer several directions for future research.