Perceived supervisor support is widely studied in terms of its positive outcomes. This paper, in contrast, investigates employees’ unethical pro-supervisor behavior as a negative consequence of perceived supervisor support. Drawing upon the multifoci approach of social exchange theory and the reciprocity principle, we hypothesized that perceived supervisor support can engender unethical pro-supervisor behavior via employees’ feelings of reciprocity towards the supervisor. Building on the instrumental reasons that underlie social exchanges, we further hypothesized that this mediation relationship is stronger for employees high in Machiavellianism. We collected data for three experimental studies from full-time MBA students of a European business school (Study 1: N = 72) and from U.S. working professionals (Study 2: N = 320; Study 3: N = 325), and the results provided consistent support for our proposed model. Taken together, the current study highlights the “dark side” of perceived supervisor support, in that it can lead to unethical behavior and that this effect can be accentuated by employees’ Machiavellianism.

在积极支持方面，人们广泛地研究了主管的支持。相比之下，本文调查了员工不道德的前级主管行为，这是上级主管支持的负面结果。基于社会交换理论和互惠原则的多焦点方法，我们假设感知到的主管支持可以通过员工对主管的互惠感产生不道德的前主管行为。基于构成社会交流基础的工具性理由，我们进一步假设，这种调解关系对于那些具有较高马基雅维利主义精神的员工而言更为牢固。我们从欧洲商学院的全日制MBA学生那里收集了三项实验研究的数据（研究1：N = 72）和美国在职专业人员（研究2：N  = 320；研究3：N  = 325），结果为我们提出的模型提供了一致的支持。综上所述，当前的研究强调了上司支持的“阴暗面”，因为它可能导致不道德的行为，并且员工的马奇维利主义会加剧这种影响。