Open Access

ARTICLE

How exploitative leadership undermines employees’ proactive behaviors: Evidence for the roles of self-control depletion and distributive justice

Xueqin Zhang, Zerui Wang, Fei Xu^*

Department of Business Administration, Hoseo University, Cheonan, 31066, Republic of Korea

* Corresponding Author: Fei Xu. Email:

Journal of Psychology in Africa 2025, 35(5), 609-618. https://doi.org/10.32604/jpa.2025.066587

Received 11 April 2025; Accepted 15 September 2025; Issue published 24 October 2025

Abstract

This research sought to examine whether employees’ views of distributive justice within the organization moderate the influence of exploitative leadership on the depletion of their self-control resources, and whether self-control depletion serves as a mechanism linking exploitative leadership to employees’ taking charge behavior. Data were obtained from 299 employees in China (51.8% male; average age = 27.67 years, SD = 3.83) using a two-wave survey design with a two-week interval. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that distributive justice did not significantly buffer the impact of exploitative leadership on self-control depletion. Furthermore, exploitative leadership was found to undermine employees’ taking charge behavior indirectly by increasing their self-control depletion. These findings extend ego depletion theory by clarifying how exploitative leadership drains employees’ self-control resources and thereby hampers proactive behavior. Practically, the results highlight the need for organizations to limit exploitative leadership practices and support employees in conserving their self-control resources to encourage proactive workplace behaviors.

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Keywords

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