Color outside the lines: How does amoral management influence employees' creative unethicality?

Area of Science:

• Organizational Behavior
• Business Ethics

Background:

• Amoral management is linked to unethical employee behavior.
• The impact of amoral management on creative unethicality is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of amoral management on employees' creative unethicality.
• To examine the mediating role of moral decoupling and the moderating role of job creativity requirements.

Main Methods:

• A three-stage investigation was conducted.
• Data were collected from 249 R&D employees in three intelligent manufacturing companies in China.

Main Results:

• Amoral management positively influences employee moral decoupling.
• Moral decoupling leads to creative unethicality under high job creativity requirements.
• Job creativity requirements moderate this relationship.

Conclusions:

• Amoral management can foster creative unethicality, particularly in high-creativity roles, via moral decoupling.
• Findings offer insights into managing creative unethicality through leadership and job design.