Winning at all costs: An exploration of bottom‐line mentality, Machiavellianism, and organisational citizenship behaviour

• Author: Ritu Gupta,Rebecca Wyland,Gabi Eissa,Scott W. Lester
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12241
• Published date: 01 July 2019
• Date: 01 July 2019

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Winning at all costs: An exploration of bottom‐line

mentality, Machiavellianism, and organisational

citizenship behaviour

Gabi Eissa

1

|Rebecca Wyland

2

|Scott W. Lester

2

|Ritu Gupta

3

1

Department of Management, Fowler College

of Business, San Diego State University

2

Department of Management & Marketing,

University of Wisconsin‐Eau Claire, College of

Business

3

HRM Department, T A Pai Management

Institute

Correspondence

Gabi Eissa, Assistant Professor of

Management, Department of Management,

Fowler College of Business, San Diego State

University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA.

Email: geissa@sdsu.edu

Abstract

This study seeks to advance the bottom‐line mentality litera-

ture by exploring an antecedent and outcome of employee

bottom‐line mentality. We build and test a moderated‐

mediation model by arguing that the personality trait of

Machiavellianism promotes an employee's adoption of a

bottom‐line mentality. Moreover, drawing on trait activation

theory, we argue that this relationship is fully activated when

the employee perceives that the organisation endorses a

bottom‐line mentality. To expand our theoretical model, we

also suggest that employee bottom‐line mentality inhibits

organisational citizenship behaviour directed towards

co‐workers. Lastly, we investigate whether an employee's

perception of an organisation's bottom‐line mentality condi-

tionally moderates the indirect effect of Machiavellianism on

organisational citizenship behaviour directed towards

co‐workers through the mediated mechanism of employee

bottom‐line mentality. Our theoretical model is tested across

two distinct studies. Study 1, a field study conducted within a

variety of organisations, provides evidence for our initial pre-

dictions (Hypotheses 1 and 2). Study 2, a multisource field

study conducted in multiple industries, replicates and

extends the findings from Study 1 by providing evidence for

the entire moderated‐mediation model. We find support for

our hypothesised model across both studies. Implications

for theory and practice are discussed, and suggestions for

future research are identified.

Received: 26 March 2018 Revised: 31 March 2019 Accepted: 2 April 2019

DOI: 10.1111/1748-8583.12241

Hum Resour Manag J. 2019;29:469–489. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltdwileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrmj 469

KEYWORDS

bottom‐line mentality, Machiavellianism, moderated‐mediation,

organisational citizenship behaviour

1|INTRODUCTION

In today's economy, employers and their employees are increasingly under pressure to secure bottom‐line

outcomes (e.g., profits, performance targets, and stock prices), thus promoting an organisational environment that

focuses on bottom‐line‐related results (see Piccolo, Greenbaum, & Eissa, 2012). Although a mindset that includes

an emphasis on the bottom line can be beneficial for employees and their organisations, a one‐dimensional focus

on bottom‐line outcomes, known as bottom‐line mentality (BLM), can have detrimental consequences (e.g.,

Greenbaum, Mawritz, & Eissa, 2012; Wolfe, 1988). BLM is a state of mind defined as “one‐dimensional thinking

that revolves around securing bottom‐line outcomes to the neglect of competing priorities”(Greenbaum et al.,

2012, p. 344). Research suggests that a BLM often involves a win–lose mentality and narrow thinking (Greenbaum

et al., 2012). Hence, employees with a strong BLM may ignore important processes, values, or norms and, instead,

do anything they can to attain their most valued bottom‐line outcome, even if it involves taking an overly

competitive stance with co‐workers, which may include undermining them (Greenbaum, Mawritz, & Eissa, 2012)

or refusing to help them. Despite evidence that suggests employee BLM negatively influences interpersonal

relationships at work, scholars have yet to thoroughly examine why and when employees might develop a BLM

in the first place (cf. Greenbaum et al., 2012) and whether a BLM influences employees' willingness to

engage in positive or moral work behaviours. By examining this area of research, scholars and practitioners

can better understand this understudied phenomenon and uncover ways to prevent it and its detrimental

consequences.

In this paper, we argue that certain employees are more likely than others to adopt a BLM at work. Specifi-

cally, extant research suggests that personality differences may help determine employees' attitudes and

behaviours and their reactions to cues and information within their work environments (e.g., De Hoogh & Den

Hartog, 2009; Ehrhart & Klein, 2001). For example, employees with high levels of Machiavellianism (hereafter,

Machs) are particularly interesting as they have “a tendency to distrust others, a willingness to engage in amoral

manipulation, a desire to accumulate status for oneself, and a desire to maintain interpersonal control”(Dahling,

Whitaker, & Levy, 2009, p. 227). Because Machs are driven by self‐interest and tend to merely focus on

prioritising and achieving their own goals, they may be more likely to develop a mentality that focuses on attaining

their own bottom line (i.e., BLM). On the basis of trait activation theory (Tett & Burnett, 2003; Tett &

Guterman, 2000), we suggest that Machs' dark predispositions can be further activated when a situation

aligns with their self‐interest. The trait activation theory is especially advantageous in explicating such a situation.

The theory proposes that when individuals with certain personalities are exposed to certain environments,

they will be more inclined to fully express certain attitudes and engage in certain behaviours. Thus, we argue

that Machs' dark predispositions can be activated by a perception that the entire organisation has a unidimen-

sional focus on bottom‐line outcomes (viz., perception of an organisation's BLM), which tells them it is

acceptable to fully express their desires to manipulate, control, and acquire status, resulting in BLM as a strategy

for success.

A perception of an organisation's BLM may emerge when an employee perceives that his or her employer

emphasises a unidimensional focus on bottom‐line outcomes at the expense of other seemingly important out-

comes. For example, a perceived organisation's BLM might occur as employees monitor their work environment

to assess what their employer values. A singular focus on the bottom line might be reflected through the rewards

and incentives that the organisation offers, or conversely, the consequences that are applied when bottom‐line

470 EISSA ET AL.