Synthesizing theories of ethical leadership, psychological climate, pro-environmental behavior, and gender, first, we proposed and tested a model linking supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior via a green psychological climate. Then, we tested the moderating effect of gender on the indirect (via a green psychological environment) relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. Time-lagged (three waves, 2 months apart) survey data were collected from 447 employees in various manufacturing and service sector firms operating in China. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling, bootstrapping, and multigroup techniques to test the hypothesized relationships. The results showed a positive relationship between employee ratings of supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. Moreover, a green psychological climate mediates the relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. Importantly, the multigroup analysis revealed that gender moderates the indirect relationship (via green psychological climate) between supervisors’ ethical leadership and organizational environmental citizenship behavior. The study carries useful practical implications for policymakers and managers concerned about environmental sustainability.

The work at hand examined the mediating role of meaningful work in the negative association between ethical leadership and service employees’ knowledge-hiding behavior. The role of harmonious work passion as a contingent factor of the direct association between ethical leadership and service employees’ knowledge-hiding behavior was also tested. Based on time-lagged (three waves, two months apart) survey data collected from 471 employees working in 52 service sector firms spanning different industries, the results showed a negative association between ethical leadership and service employees’ engagement in knowledge-hiding behaviors, both directly and indirectly, via meaningful work. It was also found that the direct association between ethical leadership and knowledge hiding was contingent on harmonious work passion. The findings suggest that managers can deter service employees’ engagement in knowledge-hiding behaviors and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage by demonstrating ethical behaviors and bolstering employees’ perceptions of meaningful work.

The COVID-19 pandemic threats and its subsequent restrictions on people's freedom, social interaction, closures of workplaces and shopping stores have caused public psychological reactance. In response, the study develops and tests a conceptual framework, which unveils the effects of perceived choice hesitation and perceived choice confidence on consumers’ psychological reactance. It also corroborates two bipolar behavioral outcomes of consumers’ psychological reactance— choice freedom satisfaction and resistance to persuasion. We employ the moderating role of anticipated worry and trust in government in strengthening the psychological reactance and final behavioral outcomes, respectively. Data collected from the country of origin of COVID-19 pandemic indicated the positive effects of antecedents on psychological reactance, which negatively affected choice freedom satisfaction and positively to resistance to persuasion. Anticipated worry and trust in government positively moderated these relationships. Findings extend the literature on psychology, service management, and consumer behavior, and suggest to government policymakers and store managers.

The present study examined the direct and indirect (via relational social capital) relationships between supervisors’ ethical leadership and knowledge hiding. It also tested the moderating role of instrumental thinking in the relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and knowledge hiding and the relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and relational social capital. Data were collected from 245 employees in different firms spanning different manufacturing and service sectors. The results showed that supervisors’ ethical leadership was negatively related to knowledge hiding, both directly and via relational social capital. The results revealed that instrumental thinking moderated the positive relationship between supervisors’ ethical leadership and relational social capital, such that the relationship was weak when instrumental thinking was high. The results also showed that instrumental thinking moderated both direct and indirect relationships between supervisors’ ethical leadership and knowledge hiding, such that the relationships were weak when instrumental thinking was high. The study carries important practical implications for managers concerned about the destructive consequences of knowledge hiding.