Academic Journal

How overtime relates to unethical pro-family behavior: the roles of distributive justice, psychological entitlement and reasons for overtime.

Bibliographic Details
Title: How overtime relates to unethical pro-family behavior: the roles of distributive justice, psychological entitlement and reasons for overtime.
Authors: Cheng, Ken1 (AUTHOR) chengken@zjut.edu.cn, Zhou, Guojun2 (AUTHOR) zhougj@zjut.edu.cn, Yu, Shan1 (AUTHOR) 211124040055@zjut.edu.cn, Hu, Panpan1 (AUTHOR) hupanpan@zjut.edu.cn
Source: Personnel Review. 2026, Vol. 55 Issue 5, p1289-1308. 20p.
Subject Terms: *Overtime, *Social exchange, *Work environment, *Employee motivation, Distributive justice, Reciprocity (Psychology), Attitudes toward entitlement
Abstract: Purpose: Unethical pro-family behavior (UPFB) in the workplace has recently aroused academia's increased concern, but little is known about how it would be shaped by work characteristics. This research aims to explore the relationship between overtime and UPFB from the perspective of social exchange. Design/methodology/approach: A two-wave questionnaire survey with 225 employees and a vignette-based experiment with 1,000 working adults were conducted. Findings: The relationship between overtime and UPFB will be positive when distributive justice of overtime rewards (DJOR) is low and will not exist or become negative when DJOR is high. Further, the interactive effect of overtime and DJOR on UPFB can be mediated by psychological entitlement and moderated by reasons for overtime. Originality/value: This research not only enhances the current knowledge about how UPFB can be affected by work characteristics but also adds to the social exchange explanations of why UPFB occurs by taking negative reciprocity into account. Besides, by verifying the role of psychological entitlement, we enrich the understanding of the driving motivations of UPFB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Personnel Review is the property of Emerald Publishing Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Business Source Index
FullText Text:
  Availability: 0
CustomLinks:
  – Url: https://www.emerald.com/insight/search?q=How overtime relates to unethical pro-family behavior: the roles of distributive justice, psychological entitlement and reasons for overtime.%20Cheng, Ken
    Name: Emerald Insight (All Content) (s7799221)
    Category: fullText
    Text: View full text at Emerald
    MouseOverText: View full text at Emerald
  – Url: https://resolver.ebsco.com/c/fiv2js/result?sid=EBSCO:bsx&genre=article&issn=00483486&ISBN=&volume=55&issue=5&date=20260701&spage=1289&pages=1289-1308&title=Personnel Review&atitle=How%20overtime%20relates%20to%20unethical%20pro-family%20behavior%3A%20the%20roles%20of%20distributive%20justice%2C%20psychological%20entitlement%20and%20reasons%20for%20overtime.&aulast=Cheng%2C%20Ken&id=DOI:
    Name: Full Text Finder (for New FTF UI) (ns324271)
    Category: fullText
    Text: Full Text Finder
    MouseOverText: Full Text Finder
Header DbId: bsx
DbLabel: Business Source Index
An: 194637992
RelevancyScore: 1435
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
PreciseRelevancyScore: 1435
IllustrationInfo
Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: How overtime relates to unethical pro-family behavior: the roles of distributive justice, psychological entitlement and reasons for overtime.
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Cheng%2C+Ken%22">Cheng, Ken</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> chengken@zjut.edu.cn</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Zhou%2C+Guojun%22">Zhou, Guojun</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> zhougj@zjut.edu.cn</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Yu%2C+Shan%22">Yu, Shan</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> 211124040055@zjut.edu.cn</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Hu%2C+Panpan%22">Hu, Panpan</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> hupanpan@zjut.edu.cn</i>
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Personnel+Review%22">Personnel Review</searchLink>. 2026, Vol. 55 Issue 5, p1289-1308. 20p.
– Name: Subject
  Label: Subject Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Overtime%22">Overtime</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+exchange%22">Social exchange</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Work+environment%22">Work environment</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Employee+motivation%22">Employee motivation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Distributive+justice%22">Distributive justice</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Reciprocity+%28Psychology%29%22">Reciprocity (Psychology)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Attitudes+toward+entitlement%22">Attitudes toward entitlement</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Purpose: Unethical pro-family behavior (UPFB) in the workplace has recently aroused academia's increased concern, but little is known about how it would be shaped by work characteristics. This research aims to explore the relationship between overtime and UPFB from the perspective of social exchange. Design/methodology/approach: A two-wave questionnaire survey with 225 employees and a vignette-based experiment with 1,000 working adults were conducted. Findings: The relationship between overtime and UPFB will be positive when distributive justice of overtime rewards (DJOR) is low and will not exist or become negative when DJOR is high. Further, the interactive effect of overtime and DJOR on UPFB can be mediated by psychological entitlement and moderated by reasons for overtime. Originality/value: This research not only enhances the current knowledge about how UPFB can be affected by work characteristics but also adds to the social exchange explanations of why UPFB occurs by taking negative reciprocity into account. Besides, by verifying the role of psychological entitlement, we enrich the understanding of the driving motivations of UPFB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Personnel Review is the property of Emerald Publishing Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=bsx&AN=194637992
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 20
        StartPage: 1289
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Overtime
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Social exchange
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Work environment
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Employee motivation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Distributive justice
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Reciprocity (Psychology)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Attitudes toward entitlement
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: How overtime relates to unethical pro-family behavior: the roles of distributive justice, psychological entitlement and reasons for overtime.
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Cheng, Ken
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Zhou, Guojun
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Yu, Shan
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Hu, Panpan
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 07
              Text: 2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 00483486
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 55
            – Type: issue
              Value: 5
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Personnel Review
              Type: main
ResultId 1