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Correction to “When ethical leader behavior breaks bad: How ethical leader behavior can turn abusive via ego depletion and moral licensing” by Lin et al. (2016).

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Journal of Applied Psychology2026https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001385article
FT50AJG 4*ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Reports an error in "When ethical leader behavior breaks bad: How ethical leader behavior can turn abusive via ego depletion and moral licensing" by Szu-Han (Joanna) Lin, Jingjing Ma and Russell E. Johnson (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2016[Jun], Vol 101[6], 815-830; see record 2016-06820-001). In the article, several root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA) values were incorrectly reported. The authors no longer have access to the data to verify against the original output but confirmed that corrections were required after manual recalculations. In all cases, the correct RMSEA is higher than what is reported in the published article. These corrections did not alter any of the article's conclusions. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2016-06820-001). The literature to date has predominantly focused on the benefits of ethical leader behaviors for recipients (e.g., employees and teams). Adopting an actor-centric perspective, in this study we examined whether exhibiting ethical leader behaviors may come at some cost to leaders. Drawing from ego depletion and moral licensing theories, we explored the potential challenges of ethical leader behavior for actors. Across 2 studies which employed multiwave designs that tracked behaviors over consecutive days, we found that leaders' displays of ethical behavior were positively associated with increases in abusive behavior the following day. This association was mediated by increases in depletion and moral credits owing to their earlier displays of ethical behavior. These results suggest that attention is needed to balance the benefits of ethical leader behaviors for recipients against the challenges that such behaviors pose for actors, which include feelings of mental fatigue and psychological license and ultimately abusive interpersonal behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001385

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@article{unknown2026,
  title        = {{Correction to “When ethical leader behavior breaks bad: How ethical leader behavior can turn abusive via ego depletion and moral licensing” by Lin et al. (2016).}},
  author       = {Unknown author},
  journal      = {Journal of Applied Psychology},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001385},
}

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Correction to “When ethical leader behavior breaks bad: How ethical leader behavior can turn abusive via ego depletion and moral licensing” by Lin et al. (2016).

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.