Moral disengagement mediates the relationship between idiosyncratic deals and core employees’ prosocial rule breaking

The majority of past studies on employees’ prosocial rule breaking have focused on the effects of individual traits, work characteristics, or leadership behavior. We used social cognitive theory to examine the effect of idiosyncratic deals on core employees’ prosocial rule breaking from the perspective of employee–organization relations. Using a longitudinal design, we conducted a survey with 395 Chinese core employees. The results show that idiosyncratic deals were positively related to core employees’ prosocial rule breaking, and that moral disengagement played a partial mediating role in this relationship. This study gives new insight into the processes through which idiosyncratic deals increase core employees’ prosocial rule breaking, and provides important suggestions for how to reduce prosocial rule breaking in organizations. Theoretical and practical implications and future research prospects are discussed.