Acting unethical in the guise of family: The effects and mechanisms of unethical pro-family behavior

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2025.1262

Acta Psychologica Sinica ›› 2025, Vol. 57 ›› Issue (7): 1262-1280.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2025.1262

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Acting unethical in the guise of family: The effects and mechanisms of unethical pro-family behavior

NONG Meilan¹, ZHU Yu²(), WANG Yanfei³

¹School of Economics and Management, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541006, China
²School of Management, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
³School of Business Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China

Published:2025-07-25 Online:2025-04-24
Contact: ZHU Yu, E-mail: zhuyu@jnu.edu.cn

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NONG Meilan, ZHU Yu, WANG Yanfei. (2025). Acting unethical in the guise of family: The effects and mechanisms of unethical pro-family behavior. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 57(7), 1262-1280.

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URL: https://journal.psych.ac.cn/acps/EN/10.3724/SP.J.1041.2025.1262

https://journal.psych.ac.cn/acps/EN/Y2025/V57/I7/1262

Figures/Tables 5

Figure 1 Theoretical Model.

Figure 1 Theoretical Model.

Table 1 Descriptive Statistics and Correlations Results in Study 1

Variables	Mean	SD	1	2	3
1. Unethical pro-family behavior manipulation	0.50	0.50	−
2. Moral identity centrality manipulation	0.50	0.50	0.00	−
3. Family identification	2.93	0.67	0.38^**	−0.48^**	−

Table 1 Descriptive Statistics and Correlations Results in Study 1

Variables	Mean	SD	1	2	3
1. Unethical pro-family behavior manipulation	0.50	0.50	−
2. Moral identity centrality manipulation	0.50	0.50	0.00	−
3. Family identification	2.93	0.67	0.38^**	−0.48^**	−

Table 2 Descriptive Statistics and Correlations Results in Study 2

Variables	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
1. Gender	−
2. Age	−0.14^*	−
3. Education	0.02	−0.10	−
4. Marriage status	−0.15^*	0.57^**	−0.07	−
5. Number of children	−0.11^*	0.59^**	−0.23^**	0.70^**	−
6. Tenure	−0.22^**	0.82^**	−0.23^**	0.71^**	0.64^**	−
7. Unethical pro-family behavior	−0.18^**	−0.02	0.16^**	0.01	−0.02	0.06	−
8. Moral identity centrality	0.07	−0.01	−0.10	−0.04	0.06	−0.11	−0.27^**	−
9. Family identification	−0.11	0.07	0.05	0.14^*	0.09	0.13^*	0.25^**	0.14^*	−
10. Organizational citizenship behavior	−0.02	−0.08	0.06	−0.09	−0.10	−0.05	0.06	−0.19^**	−0.24^**	−
11. Family incivility	−0.01	−0.21^**	−0.02	−0.21^**	−0.12^*	−0.30^**	−0.03	0.12^*	−0.24^**	0.11	−
Mean	1.55	28.21	2.97	1.37	1.38	2.32	3.17	3.73	4.04	2.54	2.00
SD	0.50	7.77	0.69	0.48	0.64	1.37	1.08	0.96	0.70	0.92	0.87

Table 2 Descriptive Statistics and Correlations Results in Study 2

Variables	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
1. Gender	−
2. Age	−0.14^*	−
3. Education	0.02	−0.10	−
4. Marriage status	−0.15^*	0.57^**	−0.07	−
5. Number of children	−0.11^*	0.59^**	−0.23^**	0.70^**	−
6. Tenure	−0.22^**	0.82^**	−0.23^**	0.71^**	0.64^**	−
7. Unethical pro-family behavior	−0.18^**	−0.02	0.16^**	0.01	−0.02	0.06	−
8. Moral identity centrality	0.07	−0.01	−0.10	−0.04	0.06	−0.11	−0.27^**	−
9. Family identification	−0.11	0.07	0.05	0.14^*	0.09	0.13^*	0.25^**	0.14^*	−
10. Organizational citizenship behavior	−0.02	−0.08	0.06	−0.09	−0.10	−0.05	0.06	−0.19^**	−0.24^**	−
11. Family incivility	−0.01	−0.21^**	−0.02	−0.21^**	−0.12^*	−0.30^**	−0.03	0.12^*	−0.24^**	0.11	−
Mean	1.55	28.21	2.97	1.37	1.38	2.32	3.17	3.73	4.04	2.54	2.00
SD	0.50	7.77	0.69	0.48	0.64	1.37	1.08	0.96	0.70	0.92	0.87

Table 3 Path Analysis Results in Study 2 (Full Model)

Variables	Family identification		Family incivility		Organizational citizenship behavior
Variables	b	SE	b	SE	b	SE
Gender	−0.11	0.08	−0.17	0.10	−0.06	0.11
Age	−0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	−0.02	0.01
Education	0.04	0.06	−0.12	0.08	−0.11	0.08
Marriage status	0.20	0.14	0.02	0.16	−0.15	0.20
Number of children	−0.08	0.10	0.13	0.12	−0.06	0.14
Tenure	0.04	0.07	−0.30^**	0.10	0.13	0.09
Unethical pro-family behavior	0.22^***	0.04	0.05	0.05	0.08	0.05
Family identification			−0.26^***	0.07	−0.36^***	0.08
Moral identity centrality	0.26^***	0.05
Unethical pro-family behavior × Moral identity centrality	−0.20^***	0.05

Table 3 Path Analysis Results in Study 2 (Full Model)

Variables	Family identification		Family incivility		Organizational citizenship behavior
Variables	b	SE	b	SE	b	SE
Gender	−0.11	0.08	−0.17	0.10	−0.06	0.11
Age	−0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	−0.02	0.01
Education	0.04	0.06	−0.12	0.08	−0.11	0.08
Marriage status	0.20	0.14	0.02	0.16	−0.15	0.20
Number of children	−0.08	0.10	0.13	0.12	−0.06	0.14
Tenure	0.04	0.07	−0.30^**	0.10	0.13	0.09
Unethical pro-family behavior	0.22^***	0.04	0.05	0.05	0.08	0.05
Family identification			−0.26^***	0.07	−0.36^***	0.08
Moral identity centrality	0.26^***	0.05
Unethical pro-family behavior × Moral identity centrality	−0.20^***	0.05