Doing good for organization but feeling bad: when and how narcissistic employees get prone to shame and guilt

Abstract As competition for gaining high-profit margins and survival among organizations (in the situation caused by COVID-19) grows, the number of business scandals or unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPOB) increases simultaneously. The current study investigates the mediating role of employees' UPOB and the moderating role of organizational change between narcissism and guilt/shame. Data were collected from 272 employees of the Pakistani telecom sector using a temporally segregated research design based on three-time lags. The analysis was performed using the statistical software AMOS 20, SPSS 20, and MACRO PROCESS. The results found that vulnerable and grandiose narcissism could have an adverse impact on employees’ UPOB. This type of behavior mediates the relationship between vulnerable, grandiose narcissism and guilt/shame. In addition to this, organizational change moderates the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and UPOB. Lastly, in contrast, grandiose narcissism is negatively related to guilt and shame.