Mercy does not hold the army: a study on the dark side effect of benevolent leadership

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the mechanism of benevolent leadership on employee cheating behavior through two paths - employee uncertainty and perceived acceptability of norm violation - and also reveal the possible dark side of benevolent leadership. Meanwhile, the moderating effects of leader behavioral integrity in the cognition dual path process are also discussed.Design/methodology/approachThis study invites 383 employees and their superiors in seven Chinese enterprises as the research objects and conducts a paired survey at three time points, and then Mplus 7.4 software is used to analyze the empirical data.FindingsThe results are shown as follows. Benevolent leadership plays a positive role on uncertainty and perceived acceptability of norm violation. Uncertainty and perceived acceptability of norm violation mediate the relationship between benevolent leadership and cheating behavior, respectively. Leader behavioral integrity moderates the positive role of benevolent leadership on uncertainty and perceived acceptability of norm violation. Leader behavioral integrity moderates the indirect effect of benevolent leadership on employees' cheating behavior through uncertainty and perceived acceptability of norm violation.Originality/valueThis study reveals the mechanism behind the negative role of benevolent leadership through the cognition reaction of employees to benevolent leadership and broadens the research scope of benevolent leadership. Meanwhile, it provides some practical inspiration for leaders to effectively use the benevolent leadership style and restrain employees' cheating behavior.