The Dark Side of Bootlegging: An Investigation of the Effects of Subordinates' Bootlegging on Managerial Endorsement, Credit Claiming, and Social Undermine

Abstract

Bootlegging refers to bottom-up innovative activities conducted secretly by employees. Prior research on bootlegging suggests that employees can gain personal benefits from bootlegging, while organizations may also motivate employee bootlegging to increase innovation performance. Yet, employees may hesitate to bootleg as there is a consensus that it’s usually challenging to disclose bootlegging ideas to upper management. Such perceptions indicate the importance of analyzing the potential dark sides of bootlegging and why it occurs, which allows employees to make better decisions about bootlegging. To address such concerns, based on territoriality theory, this research provides new insight into when and why immediate managers may react negatively to a subordinate’s bootlegging project. I propose that immediate managers tend to view a subordinate’s bootlegging project as a territorial infringement, which decreases their control over the working group. In turn, immediate managers may conduct reactionary defenses to restore their control by decreasing endorsement of bootlegging ideas, claiming credit for it, and socially undermining the bootlegging subordinates. I further argue that leader-member exchange (LMX) works as a contingent condition through shaping immediate managers’ attribution of a subordinate’s bootlegging. Using a multi-wave field study, my research shows that an immediate manager tends to socially undermine bootlegging subordinates and take credit for their bootlegging ideas due to perceived loss of control, particularly when LMX is low. I also discuss the implications and limitations of this research, as well as future research directions.

Date of Award	19 Aug 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Chak Fu LAM (Supervisor) & Long WANG (Supervisor)