The impact of personal sense of power on unethical decision-making: a moderated mediation model of love of money motive and power distance orientation

Previous studies posit that people with hierarchical power/status are more prone to making unethical decisions. However, these studies, for the most part, are silent about the possible influence of the psychological state of power (personal sense of power) on unethical decision-making. Based on the approach–inhibition theory of power, in this study, we developed a moderated mediation model to examine the influence of personal sense of power on unethical decision-making via the love of money motive and examined power distance orientation as a possible boundary condition influences this relationship. To this end, using a survey questionnaire, we collected multi-time and multi-source data from Sri Lankan banking industry. The results revealed that personal sense of power has an effect on unethical decision-making directly as well as indirectly via love of money motive. In addition, we found that the association between personal sense of power and love of money motive is weaker when an individual possesses a higher power distance orientation. This study highlights several managerial and theoretical implications.