Unethical pro-supervisor behavior (UPSB) represents a critical challenge for modern organizations. Past research notes that UPSB may develop due to close interpersonal relationships between leaders and subordinates. However, we have a limited understanding of whether employees’ perception of their relative closeness to the leader (compared to their peers) can also impact their participation in UPSB. Using social exchange theory, we plug this gap by examining the impact of leader–member exchange social comparison (LMXSC) perceptions on UPSB. We also explore the mediating role of felt obligation and the moderating role of ethical leadership. Results based on multisource, time-lagged data from 253 supervisor–subordinate dyads reveal that LMXSC is positively related to UPSB via felt obligation. The indirect relationship is weaker when ethical leadership is high. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. JEL Classification: D23, L20, M10
Mishra et al. (Tue,) studied this question.