Moral Burden of Bottom-Line Pursuits: How and When Perceptions of Top Management Bottom-Line Mentality Inhibit Supervisors' Ethical Leadership Practices

Drawing on theoretical work on humans' adaptive capacity, we propose that supervisors' perception of top management's high bottom-line mentality (BLM) has a dysfunctional effect on their ethical leadership practices. Specifically, we suggest that these perceptions hinder supervisors' empathy, which eventuates in less ethical leadership practices. We also investigate, in a first-stage moderated mediation model, how supervisors high in trait mindfulness are resistant to the ill effects of perceptions of top management's high BLM. Supervisors high (versus low) in this trait are less likely to respond to perceptions of top management's high BLM with reduced empathy that then hinders ethical leadership. Results from a multi-wave, multi-source sample of working adults from the Chinese high technology industry provide general support for our theoretical model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Automated summary

The perception of supervisors on top management's high bottom-line mentality has a dysfunctional effect on their ethical leadership practices, hindering empathy and leading to less ethical leadership. However, supervisors high in trait mindfulness are resistant to this negative effect and are less likely to respond with reduced empathy, thus fostering ethical leadership. Results from a sample in the Chinese high technology industry support this theoretical model.