Drawing on social identity theory and social–cognitive theory, we hypothesize that organizational identification predicts unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) through the mediation of moral disengagement. We further propose that competitive interorganizational relations enhance the hypothesized relationships. Three studies conducted in China and the United States using both survey and vignette methodologies provided convergent support for our model. Study 1 revealed that higher organizational identifiers engaged in more UPB, and that this effect was mediated by moral disengagement. Study 2 found that organizational identification once again predicted UPB through the mediation of moral disengagement, and that the mediation relationship was stronger when employees perceived a higher level of industry competition. Finally, Study 3 replicated the above findings using a vignette experiment to provide stronger evidence of causality. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Unethical conduct in the workplace, defined as behavior contrary to the accepted moral norms of society (Treviño, Weaver, & Reynolds, 2006), has received increased attention from scholars in recent years (Martin, Kish-Gephart, & Detert, 2014), especially the question of what gives rise to such behavior. In addressing this question, prior studies have identified numerous individual- (e.g., trait-based, cognitive, affective), interpersonal- (e.g., peer, leadership), and organization-level factors (e.g., organizational ethical infrastructures) that help explain why employees behave unethically, thereby advancing our understanding of behavioral ethics considerably (for recent reviews, see Kish-Gephart, Harrison, & Treviño, 2010; Treviño, den Nieuwenboer, & Kish-Gephart, 2014). Interestingly, however, most such work has focused on behaviors undertaken to benefit the self (Kish-Gephart et al., 2010; Moore & Gino, 2013; Thau,...