ABSTRACT

This study focuses on a unique phenomenon known as ‘unethical pro-organizational behaviour (UPB)’ that an explicit discussion on it is rarely present within public administration. We investigate the role of transactional and transformational leadership on UPB in the public sector using survey data on 4,166 bureaucrats in South Korea. Also, we explore how public service motivation (PSM) moderates the relationship between leadership and UPB. The results reveal that transactional leadership is positively related to followers’ UPB. On the other hand, transformational leadership has a curvilinear relationship (inverted U-shaped) with employees’ UPB. These findings show that followers’ unethical behaviour for the sake of organization is vulnerable to the leaders’ influence, but the direction of impact may vary depending on their leadership style. Moreover, we find that PSM moderates the relationship between two different leadership styles and follower’s UPB. These results imply that individual civil servants, even if their behaviours are under the great influence of leaders, can control UPB through public service identity.

摘要

本研究重点关注一种被称为“不道德的亲组织行为 (UPB)”的独特现象，公共行政部门很少对此进行明确的讨论。我们使用对韩国 4,166 名官僚的调查数据调查交易型和变革型领导对公共部门 UPB 的作用。此外，我们还探讨了公共服务动机 (PSM) 如何调节领导力与 UPB 之间的关系。结果表明，交易型领导与追随者的 UPB 呈正相关。另一方面，变革型领导与员工的UPB呈曲线关系（倒U型）。这些发现表明，下属为了组织而做出的不道德行为很容易受到领导者的影响，但影响的方向可能因领导风格而异。此外，我们发现 PSM 缓和了两种不同领导风格与下属 UPB 之间的关系。这些结果说明，公务员个体，即使其行为受到领导的较大影响，也可以通过公共服务身份来控制UPB。