Previous studies posit that people with hierarchical power/status are more prone to making unethical decisions. However, these studies, for the most part, are silent about the possible influence of the psychological state of power (personal sense of power) on unethical decision-making. Based on the approach–inhibition theory of power, in this study, we developed a moderated mediation model to examine the influence of personal sense of power on unethical decision-making via the love of money motive and examined power distance orientation as a possible boundary condition influences this relationship. To this end, using a survey questionnaire, we collected multi-time and multi-source data from Sri Lankan banking industry. The results revealed that personal sense of power has an effect on unethical decision-making directly as well as indirectly via love of money motive. In addition, we found that the association between personal sense of power and love of money motive is weaker when an individual possesses a higher power distance orientation. This study highlights several managerial and theoretical implications.

先前的研究表明，具有等级权力/地位的人更容易做出不道德的决定。然而，这些研究大多对权力心理状态（个人权力感）对不道德决策的可能影响只字未提。基于权力的趋近抑制理论，在这项研究中，我们开发了一个调节中介模型，通过对金钱动机的热爱来检验个人权力感对不道德决策的影响，并将权力距离取向作为可能的边界条件进行检验影响这种关系。为此，我们使用调查问卷，从斯里兰卡银行业收集了多时间、多来源的数据。结果表明，个人权力感通过贪财动机直接或间接地影响不道德的决策。此外，我们发现当一个人拥有较高的权力距离取向时，个人权力感与爱钱动机之间的关联较弱。这项研究突出了几个管理和理论意义。