While a large body of literature has focused on the positive effect of work effort on improving individual performance and organizational effectiveness, little is known about how work effort produces the negative outcome, such as unethical pro-organizational behavior. Our study proposes that work effort will activate the moral licensing mechanism through moral credential to increase unethical pro-organizational behavior, and leader Confucian value negatively moderates this relationship. Through the single-factor two-level experimental research (study 1) and the multi-time point investigation data analysis (study 2), the mediation model and the moderated mediation model proposed in both two studies have been supported by observation data. These findings are significant to further understanding of the psychological mechanism and boundary condition of unethical pro-organizational behavior, and provide practical guidance for managers to effectively control employee’s unethical pro-organizational behavior.

中文翻译：

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工作努力与不道德的亲组织行为之间的道德许可效应：儒家价值观的调节作用

虽然大量文献都关注工作努力对提高个人绩效和组织效率的积极影响，但人们对工作努力如何产生负面结果（例如不道德的亲组织行为）知之甚少。我们的研究提出，工作努力将通过道德凭证激活道德许可机制，以增加不道德的亲组织行为，而领导者儒家价值观消极地调节了这种关系。通过单因素双水平实验研究（研究1）和多时间点调查数据分析（研究2），两项研究提出的中介模型和调节中介模型都得到了观察数据的支持。