Competitive Orientations and Unethical Decision Making in Virtual Projectized Organizations: The Serial Mediating Roles of Tacit Knowledge Hiding and Tolerance for Conflict with Interpersonal Conflict as Moderator
Authors
MUHAMMAD BILAL and RAO AAMIR KHAN
Abstract
The post-pandemic era has seen the rapid growth of virtual projectized organizations. The geographic dispersion, digital coordination, and less supervision provide the environment that is favorable to ethical vulnerabilities. Competitive employees perceive workplace relationships as zero-sum contests. This attitude initiates behavioral patterns that lead to unethical decision making. The processes that relate competitive orientations to ethical violations in virtual environments are not well studied, especially in developing economies where institutional protection is low. This paper has explored a serial moderated mediation model between competitive orientations and unethical decision making via tacit knowledge hiding and conflict tolerance, and interpersonal conflict moderating the last pathway. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 403 mid-level tactical managers of SECP-listed virtual projectized organizations in Pakistan. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze data. NVivo was used to analyze preliminary qualitative responses of 20 virtual project managers to validate construct relevance. Empirical support was given to all the eight hypotheses. Competitive orientations were found to be positive predictors of unethical decision making, tacit knowledge hiding, and interpersonal conflict. Tacit knowledge concealment had a negative relationship with tolerance to conflict. Unethical decision making was negatively predicted by tolerance to conflict. The serial mediation pathway was important. Interpersonal conflict moderated the tolerance–unethical decision making link. Tolerance had a protective effect that was reduced in the presence of interpersonal conflict. The results combine social exchange theory and conservation of resources theory into a single process model. Tolerance to conflict is a finite resource that conditions the buffering of ethical risks. The research provides practical recommendations on how to promote ethical resilience in virtual projectized settings.
