Differentiating the Effects of Power and Status on Unethical Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Meta-Analysis

Power and status are two critical elements of social hierarchy. However, whether power and status have similar effects on unethical behavior has received inconsistent results. We constructed a theoretical model of power, status, and unethical behavior to address this issue by integrating the approach-inhibition theory and expectation states theory. We verified this model based on 132 samples reported in 95 articles. Our meta-analytic results show that power and status affect unethical behavior differently, such that power is positively related to unethical behavior. Contrastingly, status is negatively associated with unethical behavior. Furthermore, power and status have different indirect effects on unethical behavior through moral cognition. Compared with power, status has a stronger indirect inhibitory effect on unethical behavior through moral cognition. We also examined the moderating role of power distance in the indirect effects of power and status on unethical behavior. The results of the moderated mediation meta-analysis show that the indirect positive effect of power on unethical behavior through moral cognition and the indirect negative effect of status on unethical behavior through moral cognition are stronger when power distance is higher. These findings help scholars better understand how power and status may increase or inhibit unethical behavior and when this occurs. Furthermore, these findings provide more convincing and referential evidence for practitioners.