The paradoxical effect of responsible leadership on employee cyberloafing: A moderated mediation model

Drawing on the conservation of resources theory (COR), this study examines the relationship between responsible leadership and counterproductive work behavior of employee cyberloafing. Incorporating related concepts of felt obligation, job stress, and conscientiousness as possible mediators and moderators between responsible leadership and cyberloafing, a field study and a quasi‐experimental design were conducted on two data sets. Data from Study 1 showed that while responsible leadership reduced employee cyberloafing through increased felt obligation, it also promoted employee cyberloafing through increasing job stress. Study 2 further showed that conscientiousness moderated the mediating effect of felt obligation between responsible leadership and cyberloafing. The results from this work illustrate the paradoxical mechanisms of self‐regulatory resources anticipated from COR.