When Performance Goal Orientations Foster Bootlegging: The Competing Roles of Transformational and Transactional Leadership

Research on bootlegging has recently gained much attention due to its benefits for innovation through informal and covert efforts among employees. Scholars have thus increasingly spotlighted how and when employees engage in bootlegging, particularly investigating those with different goal orientations. Existing studies reveal mixed findings, suggesting that both performance-prove goal orientation (PPGO) and performance-avoidant goal orientation (PAGO) can foster employee bootlegging. These inconsistencies require a thorough understanding of the significant influencing factors of bootlegging, especially the role of leadership in motivating such behavior. Drawing on goal orientation theory and the literature on transformational and transactional leadership, we posited that PPGO promotes employees’ increased bootlegging, especially under transactional leadership. Similarly, PAGO inspires more bootlegging among employees, especially under transformational leadership. We test our hypotheses through a multi-wave, multi-source field study ( N = 374) and two scenario-based experiments ( N = 411). Results in the field study show that both PPGO and PAGO trigger bootlegging. Results in the experiments indicate that PPGO employees engage in more bootlegging under transactional leadership, while PAGO employees engage in more bootlegging under transformational leadership. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings, promoting a nuanced understanding of the crucial drivers and conditions of bootlegging.