Amoral Management as a Double-Edged Sword: How May it Shape Subordinate Work Performance?

Abstract

Amoral management is a leading style manifested as ethical silence towards subordinates within enterprises, yet research has paid scant attention to its influence on employees’ work performance. Based on the social information processing theory, this study explores the double-edged sword effect of amoral management on subordinate work performance in the context of an organizational pay for performance system. The examination of 330 sets of supervisor-subordinate matching data from a two-stage questionnaire shows that amid a high pay for performance system, amoral management promotes subordinate task performance through the mediator of mental preoccupation with work and that amoral management promotes subordinate unethical behavior through the mediator of self-interest cognition. This study thus rectifies the dearth of research on amoral management while furnishing valuable guidance for ethical practices within organizations.