Abstract: Ethical scandals in organizations are often cited when pointing to leaders as the culprits who foster corruption in their organization. However, little empirical work examines the individual processes through which ethical leadership may influence follower unethical behavior and altruistic behavior. Drawing from principles of social learning theory and social cognitive theory, moral disengagement is presented as a means by which ethical leadership may influence followers. Specifically, I hypothesize that ethical leadership influence on follower unethical behavior and altruistic behavior is mediated through follower moral disengagement. The present study examined the mediating processes in the relationship between ethical leadership and employee unethical behavior as well as altruistic behavior using a sample of 766 employees from the People's Republic of China. A structured questionnaire was employed as the research instrument for this study. It consisted of four scales designed to measure the variables of ethical leadership, moral disengagement, unethical behavior, and altruistic behavior. All the scales were well-established in the literature. SPSS16.0 and Lisrel8.70 were adopted to perform a series of statistical analyses. Structural Equation Model was used to test the hypotheses. Results revealed that ethical leadership was negatively related to follower unethical behavior (?=-.14, p<.001) and positively related to altruistic behavior (?=.37, p<.001), and moral disengagement was positively related to follower unethical behavior (?=.37, p<.001) and negatively related to altruistic behavior (?=-.41, p<.001). Consistent with predictions, we found that ethical leadership had a significant negative influence on unethical behavior (?=-.13, p<.001), and that moral disengagement fully mediated the negative influence of ethical leadership on unethical behavior. Meanwhile, we also found that ethical leadership had a significant positive influence on altruistic behavior (?=.38, p<.001), and that moral disengagement partially mediate the positive influence of ethical leadership on altruistic behavior. Finally, the inclusion of and moral disengagement as mediating variables adds to the growing body of research that demonstrates the importance of ethical leadership influence on both unethical behavior and altruistic behavior. Implications for theory and research are discussed.

Key words: employee, ethical leadership, moral disengagement, unethical behavior, altruistic behavior

摘要： 以道德推脱理论为基础，运用问卷调查法，通过对776名员工的调查，探讨了德行领导对员工不道德行为和利他行为的影响以及道德推脱在这一影响过程中的中介作用。研究发现：（1）德行领导会抑制员工不道德行为的产生、促进员工利他行为的出现；（2）道德推脱会促进员工不道德行为的产生、抑制员工利他行为的出现；（3）德行领导通过道德推脱的完全中介作用负向影响员工的不道德行为，通过道德推脱的部分中介作用正向影响员工的利他行为。

关键词: 员工, 德行领导, 道德推脱, 不道德行为, 利他行为