Document Type : Review

Authors

• Mohammad Reza Mohajernia ¹
• Gholam Ali Tabarsa ²
• Maryam Akhavan Kharazian ³

¹ PhD student of the field Public Administration Faculty of Accounting and Management, University Shahid Beheshti city Tehran/ Iran

² Full Professor, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Shahid Beheshti University

³ Assistant Professor of Public Administration Faculty of Accounting and Management, University Shahid Beheshti city Tehran/ Iran

Abstract

This study aims to establish a systematic and comprehensive perspective on the research literature regarding unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) and to precisely identify emerging trends and paradigm shifts in this field, utilizing a quantitative and qualitative bibliometric approach. The statistical population of the study comprised 290 reputable scientific-research articles published between 2010 and 2026 in two globally recognized databases, Web of Science and Scopus. These articles were subjected to in-depth analysis and evaluation using advanced analytical methods, including citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and co-occurrence keyword clustering. The quantitative findings indicated that an annual growth rate of 13% and an average citation count of 26 per article serve as evidence of the accelerating and growing attention of the international scientific community to this complex phenomenon. Conceptual network analysis revealed three main structural clusters: “organizational drivers and leadership styles,” “psychological foundations and moral identity,” and “consequences and expansion of the conceptual scope.” Furthermore, the analysis of the social structure of researchers pointed to the existence of a bipolar scientific ecosystem centered on the United States and China, wherein China serves as a field laboratory for testing American theories. The final results indicated that UPB literature has shifted from abstract and simple definitions toward the examination of complex cognitive mechanisms, dynamic leader-follower interactions, and profound psychological consequences. This study can make a significant contribution to senior managers in designing intelligent control systems and to researchers in guiding future investigations.

Keywords

• Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior
• Bibliometric Analysis
• Organizational Identity
• Ethical Leadership
• Moral Disengagement

Main Subjects

• Conceptualization