@Article{jpa.2025.066587,
AUTHOR = {Xueqin Zhang, Zerui Wang, Fei Xu},
TITLE = {How exploitative leadership undermines employees’ proactive behaviors: Evidence for the roles of self-control depletion and distributive justice},
JOURNAL = {Journal of Psychology in Africa},
VOLUME = {35},
YEAR = {2025},
NUMBER = {5},
PAGES = {609--618},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/jpa/v35n5/64103},
ISSN = {1815-5626},
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.},
DOI = {10.32604/jpa.2025.066587}
}