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Escaping the organization: Examining the influence of supervisor bottom-line mentality on employee withdrawal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2024

Zhihong Tan
Affiliation:
Business School, Hunan university, Changsha, P.R. China
Ling Yuan
Affiliation:
Business School, Hunan university, Changsha, P.R. China
Mengxi Yang*
Affiliation:
School of Economics and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China MOE Social Science Laboratory of Digital Economic Forecasts and Policy Simulation at UCAS, Beijing, P.R. China
Yuanmei (Elly) Qu
Affiliation:
Rohrer College of Business, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, USA
*
Corresponding author: Mengxi Yang; Email: yangmengxi@ucas.ac.cn

Abstract

Many professional managers are driven to achieve the bottom line to secure income, honor, and standing in the workplace. Drawing on social information processing theory, we propose that supervisor bottom-line mentality in the workplace has a dysfunctional effect on organizations. Specifically, supervisor bottom-line mentality will hinder subordinates’ perception of the meaning of work, which eventuates high employee withdrawal (turnover intention and work withdrawal behavior). We also verified that amoral management weakens the negative relationship between supervisor bottom-line mentality and meaning of work in the first-stage moderated mediation model. Additionally, the strength of the indirect effects of supervisor bottom-line mentality on turnover intention and work withdrawal behavior is weaker (stronger) when supervisors’ amoral management is high (low). Our hypothesized moderated mediation model is supported by 301 data points generated by a three-stage full-time staff member. Furthermore, we put forward important theoretical and practical implications according to the research.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press in association with Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management.

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