How Ethical Leadership Impacts Deviant Normative Conduct? The Role of Trait Affect, Voice Behaviour, and Social Support

Objective: This study developed and validated ethical leadership and deviant normative conduct model through mediating variables of trait affect as a psychological process and subordinate voice behavior. In addition, we also tested the moderating influence of social support in the association between subordinate voice behavior and deviant normative conduct. Method: The sample of the study was comprised of 258 pairs of employees and their direct leaders from six different organizations in China. We performed a structural equation model and hierarchical linear tests to check the hypothesized relationships. Results: The results indicated that ethical leadership has a positive impact on positive affect and negative impact on negative affect. Positive affect and negative affect have a differential positive and negative influence on subordinate voice behavior that, as a result, has a positive impact on organizational citizenship behavior and negative influence on counterproductive work behavior. This study also confirmed the role of social support as an enhancer and suppressor of deviant normative conduct when social support interacts with subordinate voice behavior. Conclusion: Our study uniquely applied social learning and conservation of resource theories to ethical leadership and normatively (un)desirable conduct at work, which have important implications for theory and practice. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: (1) Ethical leadership has a positively direct effect on employee normatively desirable conduct. (2) Ethical leadership has a negatively direct effect on employee normatively undesirable conduct. (3) A single mediating mechanism exists until now in the relationship between ethical leadership and normative conduct, which are explored individually. What this topic adds: (1) Distinctively integrates and empirically validates ethical leadership and deviant normatively (un)desirable conduct of subordinates at work relationships, simultaneously. (2) Synthesized psychological processes (operationalized as trait affect) and challenging behaviour (operationalized as voice behaviour) as underlying serial mechanisms. (3) Recognized the role of social support as a crucial enhancer and suppressor simultaneously.