Influences of (in)congruences in psychological entitlement and felt obligation on ethical behavior

Qin Chen; Yifei Shen; Li Zhang; Zhenduo Zhang; Junwei Zheng; Jing Xiu

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1052759

Influences of (in)congruences in psychological entitlement and felt obligation on ethical behavior

Front Psychol. 2023 Jan 9:13:1052759. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1052759. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Qin Chen¹, Yifei Shen², Li Zhang¹, Zhenduo Zhang², Junwei Zheng³, Jing Xiu⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China.
² School of Economics and Management, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China.
³ Faculty of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China.
⁴ College of Applied Economics, University of Chinese Academics of Social Sciences, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Psychological entitlement and felt obligation are two correlated but distinctive conceptions. Prior studies have mainly explored their influences on employees' (un)ethical behavior, respectively. Recently, several studies suggest the interactive impacts of psychological entitlement with felt obligation on individual behavioral choices. In consistency with these studies, the present study focuses on the influences of (in)congruences in psychological entitlement and felt obligation on employees' (un)ethical behavior.

Methods: A two-wave multi-source questionnaire survey is conducted to collect 202 matched questionnaires from full-time Chinese workers. The polynomial regression with response surface analysis is employed to test hypotheses.

Results: The results indicate that: (1) employees have higher levels of work engagement and helping behavior but lower levels of unethical behavior when their psychological entitlement and felt obligation are balanced at higher levels rather than lower levels; (2) employees have higher levels of work engagement and helping behavior but lower levels of unethical behavior when they have higher levels of felt obligation but lower levels of psychological entitlement compared to those having lower levels of felt obligation but higher levels of psychological entitlement; and (3) work engagement mediates the relationship between (in)congruences in psychological entitlement and felt obligation and employees' helping behavior and unethical behavior.

Discussion: This study provides a novel insight into the interactive influences of (in)congruence in psychological entitlement and felt obligation on employees' ethical behavioral choices.

Keywords: felt obligation; helping behavior; psychological entitlement; unethical behavior; work engagement.

Grants and funding

Our research was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [DUT21RC(3)089], the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71961014 and 71701083), and the New Liberal Arts Development Program of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (UCASS20210029).