When Employees Do Bad Things for Good Reasons: Examining Unethical Pro‐Organizational Behaviors

We propose that employees sometimes engage in unethical acts with the intent to benefit their organization, its members, or both–a construct we term unethical pro‐organizational behavior. We suggest that positive social exchange relationships and organizational identification may lead to unethical pro‐organizational behavior indirectly via neutralization, the process by which the moral content of unethical actions is overlooked. We incorporate situational and individual‐level constructs as moderators of these relationships and consider managerial implications and future research.