Although existing research generally has found that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has a positive impact on organizations and individuals, researchers should still be alert to the potential risks it may bring. This study will explore why employee-oriented corporate social responsibility (employee-oriented CSR) triggers unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Based on the social identity theory, this study establishes a moderated mediation model to explore the impact mechanism of employee-oriented CSR on UPB. We collected survey data from 298 employees of manufacturing organizations to test our research model. The regression statistics results indicate that employee-oriented CSR can indirectly (via perceived insider status (PIS)) affect employees’ UPB. Moreover, ethical climate rules negatively moderate the relationship between PIS and UPB, and negatively moderate the indirect effect of employee-oriented CSR on UPB. This study promotes a full understanding of the impact of CSR, expands the micro-foundation of CSR, and extends the research on the antecedents of employees’ UPB by revealing the social-psychological mechanism of employee-oriented CSR impact UPB, and also gives specific suggestions to put into practice.

Purpose: Drawing upon ego depletion theory, the authors developed a serial mediation model linking job insecurity with employee political behavior in which resource depletion and moral disengagement operated as two sequential mediators. The authors further identified employee moral identity as an important boundary condition that impacts the strength of this serial mediation effect.Design/methodology/approach: Multilevel analyses were utilized to test the proposed hypotheses by analyzing a sample included 306 employees nested in 71 groups.Findings: Results revealed that job insecurity induced resource depletion that activated moral disengagement, which in turn instigated political behavior. Furthermore, employee moral identity weakened this serial indirect effect. Specifically, this indirect effect was positive when moral identity was low, whereas did not present when moral identity was high.Originality/value: Prior studies have primarily concentrated on the detrimental effects of job insecurity. However, less study has investigated how individuals proactively cope with job insecurity. The authors contribute to this stream of research by exploring whether and how job insecurity facilitates employee political behavior.