The influence of team ethical leadership on ethical climate, moral efficacy, and multilevel vigilante behavior: the moderating role of organizational monitoring intensity

Introduction: Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study examines how team ethical leadership shapes organizational vigilantism across levels. We develop a dual-pathway, multilevel model linking team ethical leadership to vigilante behavior at both the team and individual employee levels, and propose organizational monitoring intensity as a key boundary condition. Methods: We tested hypotheses using a multi-wave field survey conducted in a large enterprise in Central China, including 92 teams and 303 employees. Multilevel analyses were used to assess cross-level mediation and moderated indirect effects. Results: Results showed that (1) team ethical leadership is positively associated with team vigilante behavior via team ethical climate; (2) team ethical leadership is positively associated with employee vigilante behavior via employee moral efficacy; and (3) organizational monitoring intensity negatively moderates these relationships. Specifically, ethical leadership more strongly predicts team ethical climate and employee moral efficacy-and their indirect effects on vigilantism at both levels-when monitoring intensity is low rather than high. Discussion: These findings indicate that ethical leadership functions as an important source of agency that encourages employees and teams to uphold norms, particularly when formal monitoring is weak. Practically, organizations may strengthen ethical order by prioritizing ethical leadership as a substitute for surveillance. The study advances vigilantism research by clarifying cross-level mechanisms and identifying monitoring intensity as a critical boundary condition.