Raghad Kharrufa

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Drawing on social exchange theory, this study aims to expand the literature on despotic leadership as a prominent indicator of organizational deviance using a moderate mediation framework. Data were collected from a two-wave study involving 185 randomly chosen full-time administrative staff members in October 2024, in six colleges at the University of Mosul. Hypotheses have been tested by hierarchical multiple regression analysis and an estimated confidence interval for the indirect effect using SPSS 21.0 and Mplus 6.0. The results indicated a positive effect between despotic leadership and between Psychological Contract Breach (PCB) (β = 0.23, p < 0.01), as well as a positive effect between PCB and organizational deviance (β = 0.17, p < 0.01). The results also demonstrated a mediating role for PCB, as its presence rendered the association between despotic leadership and organizational deviance non-significant (β = 0.04, p = n.s.). Furthermore, we demonstrated a moderating role for moral identity, as its interaction with PCB reduced the negative impact on organizational deviance (β -0.15, p < 0.01). The study recommends that organizations should focus on discouraging despotic leadership and addressing subordinates’ perceptions of PCB. Moreover, the results emphasize the importance of ethical identity and its beneficial influence on the reduction of the influence of despotic leadership on the deviance within the organization.

Acknowledgments
We would also wish to thank the University of Mosul and the colleges, which constituted study population in this work. Their support was significant to facilitate us conduct and complete the study.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Drawing on social exchange theory, the study aims to explore the influence of workplace favoritism on counterproductive work behavior (CWB), with the mediating role of organizational cynicism and organizational silence and the moderating role of self-efficacy. A modified two-stage questionnaire was used to collect data in 2025 from 487 full-time employees from the private services sector in Iraq using non-probability convenience sampling. Hierarchical multiple regression and bootstrapping analysis were conducted to test the hypotheses, using SPSS 21.0 and Mplus 6.0. This study extends the literature on workplace favoritism as a prominent predictor of CWB (β = 0.31, p < 0.01). The study also highlighted the mediating role of both organizational cynicism (β = 0.48, p < 0.001) and silence (β = 0.56, p < 0.001). Furthermore, we extend prior research by exploring the moderating role of self-efficacy, as its interaction with workplace favoritism reduced the positive impact between workplace favoritism and both organizational cynicism (β = –0.19, p < 0.05) and silence (β = –0.21, p < 0.05) and reduced their indirect impact on CWB. The study recommends that organizational management should promote awareness of the harmful effects of favoritism and highlight the dangers of negative behaviors stemming from it, specifically organizational cynicism and silence, as these are prominent intermediate indicators of CWB. In addition, this study could provide useful guidance for reducing CWB by focusing on self-efficacy as a moderating variable that decreases the impact of favoritism on cynicism and organizational silence.

Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the University of Mosul, College of Administration and Economics, for providing facilities, which helped to improve the quality of this paper.