Can one bad apple spoil the barrel? Performance pressure amplifies the contagion effect of unethical pro-organizational behaviour among employees
基于社会学习理论，研究发现同事的不道德亲组织行为会通过底线心态传染给其他员工，且绩效压力会加剧这种传染效应，对管理者防范不道德行为扩散有重要启示。
Despite increasing knowledge about why employees engage in unethical pro-organizational behaviour (UPB), we know little about the interpersonal influence of UPB. Building on social learning theory, we contend that a co-worker’s UPB will lead to a focal employee’s bottom-line mentality, which will in turn promote the focal employee’s engagement in UPB. Moreover, this contagion effect is more pronounced when the focal employee faces high performance pressure. The results of a scenario-based experiment in China (Study 1a: N1a = 100), a recall experiment in the UK (Study 1b: N1b = 131) and a two-wave questionnaire survey in China (Study 2: N2 = 409) reveal that bottom-line mentality explains why the focal employee performs UPB in addition to the two frequently examined antecedents of UPB (i.e. moral disengagement and perceived self-interested ethical climate), especially when the focal employee is under high performance pressure. Our findings shed new light on the interpersonal dynamics of UPB among employees and carry crucial implications for practitioners to prevent the spread of such unethical conduct.