Does fish begin to stink at the head? The trickle-down effect of the leader PSRB

Purpose Leaders, as rule enforcers and organizational representatives, engage in pro-social rule-breaking behavior (PSRB) that can yield ambiguous outcomes for employees. Based on social learning theory, this study explores the trickle-down effect and its two underlying psychological mechanisms to better understand how leader PSRB affects employee PSRB. Design/methodology/approach Adopting a cross-sectional supervisor-subordinate matched questionnaire, data were collected from 102 leaders and 486 employees from 5 enterprises in China. Findings Results show that leader PSRB positively affects employee PSRB, and leader trust and perceived acceptability of norm violation mediate this relationship. Supervisor-subordinate communication moderates the positive associations between leader PSRB, leader trust, and perceived acceptability of norm violation, and also functions as a moderated mediator. Practical implications To effectively manage the trickle-down effect of PSRB, organizations should enhance leaders' self-awareness of their role-modeling impact, proactively set cognitive boundaries for acceptable norm violations, responsibly foster leader trust, and maintain transparent supervisor-subordinate communication. Originality/value The internal mechanisms driving the trickle-down effect of leader PSRB remain an unresolved theoretical gap. Drawing on social learning theory, this study establishes a dual-pathway framework, demonstrating how employees process leader PSRB through simultaneous affective (leader trust) and cognitive (perceived acceptability) lenses to theoretically explain this downward transmission.