{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T16:14:07Z","timestamp":1785428047565,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":63,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]],"date-time":"2026-06-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781222400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ningbo University of Finance & Economics","award":["1320259063"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1320259063"]}]},{"award":["1320259063"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1320259063"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0085x3f43","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Drawing on moral cleansing theory, this study adopts an actor-centered perspective to examine how ingratiation relates to employees\u2019 moral rumination and subsequent coworker-directed cooperative behavior, thereby offering insights to help organizations to understand and guide such behaviors. Using a multi-wave survey design, this study collected data from 272 employees to examine a theoretical model investigating how employee ingratiation influences coworker-directed cooperative behavior through moral rumination, while also examining the moderating role of employee moral identity. The results indicate that employee ingratiation positively influences moral rumination, which in turn enhances coworker-directed cooperative behavior. Furthermore, the indirect effect of ingratiation on coworker-directed cooperative behavior via moral rumination is strengthened among employees with high moral identity. This study advances the literature by shifting the focus from targets and observers to actors themselves, examining how ingratiation shapes actors\u2019 own moral perception and subsequent behavior. It further contributes by introducing moral rumination as a mediating mechanism and exploring the moderating effect of moral identity, as well as offering new insights into ingratiation in organizational contexts.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs16060978","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,18]],"date-time":"2026-06-18T02:10:16Z","timestamp":1781748616000},"page":"978","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["When and How Ingratiation Boosts Coworker-Directed Cooperative Behavior"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6108-0871","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yun","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Management, Ningbo University of Finance and Economics, Ningbo 315174, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Min","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Business School, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1086","DOI":"10.1016\/j.leaqua.2010.10.010","article-title":"On making causal claims: A review and recommendations","volume":"21","author":"Antonakis","year":"2010","journal-title":"The Leadership Quarterly"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"123","DOI":"10.1037\/a0015406","article-title":"Testing a social-cognitive model of moral behavior: The interactive influence of situations and moral identity centrality","volume":"97","author":"Aquino","year":"2009","journal-title":"Journal of Personality and Social Psychology"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1423","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.83.6.1423","article-title":"The self-importance of moral identity","volume":"83","author":"Aquino","year":"2002","journal-title":"Journal of Personality and Social Psychology"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"955","DOI":"10.1108\/PR-05-2020-0351","article-title":"Ingratiating with bosses for favourable performance ratings: A serial mediation mechanism","volume":"52","author":"Asadullah","year":"2023","journal-title":"Personnel Review"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"287","DOI":"10.1017\/jmo.2020.2","article-title":"The grapes are sour: An envier\u2019s attributional perspective of coworker impression management","volume":"29","author":"Azeem","year":"2023","journal-title":"Journal of Management & Organization"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"143","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jbusres.2018.10.015","article-title":"Salesperson coping with work-family conflict: The joint effects of ingratiation and self-promotion","volume":"95","author":"Bande","year":"2019","journal-title":"Journal of Business Research"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"157","DOI":"10.1016\/j.copsyc.2015.08.001","article-title":"Ethical dissonance, justifications, and moral behavior","volume":"6","author":"Barkan","year":"2015","journal-title":"Current Opinion in Psychology"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"225","DOI":"10.2307\/259372","article-title":"Negotiating with yourself and losing: Making decisions with competing internal preferences","volume":"23","author":"Bazerman","year":"1998","journal-title":"Academy of Management Review"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"274","DOI":"10.1177\/1094428105278021","article-title":"Potential problems in the statistical control of variables in organizational research: A qualitative analysis with recommendations","volume":"8","author":"Becker","year":"2005","journal-title":"Organizational Research Methods"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"377","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-orgpsych-041015-062337","article-title":"Impression management in organizations: Critical questions, answers, and areas for future research","volume":"3","author":"Bolino","year":"2016","journal-title":"Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"187","DOI":"10.1177\/109442819922005","article-title":"Measuring impression management in organizations: A scale development based on the Jones and Pittman taxonomy","volume":"2","author":"Bolino","year":"1999","journal-title":"Organizational Research Methods"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Brislin, R. 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