Purpose

Employees’ bootlegging significantly contributes to corporate innovation. By relying on the conservation of resources theory, this study aims to explore the impact mechanism of workplace bullying on bootlegging, with relational energy as a mediator and symmetrical internal communication as the moderator.
Design/methodology/approach

To conduct this research, the authors used a mixed-method approach. Study 1 was an experimental scenario-based study, in which 210 participants participated, whereas Study 2 was a survey-based study in which 313 employees working in IT-enabled companies were surveyed in three waves. Furthermore, SPSS PROCESS (Models 4 and 7) was used to test the hypotheses related to mediation and moderated mediation.
Findings

The findings of this research first revealed that workplace bullying negatively affects bootlegging. Second, relational energy partially mediates the relationship between workplace bullying and bootlegging. Finally, symmetrical internal communication weakens the indirect, negative relationship between workplace bullying and bootlegging through relational energy.
Originality/value

Previous studies had majorly focused on positive aspects of organizational behavior (e.g. leader humor, leader humility, trustworthiness, organizational support) that contribute to bootlegging. By focusing on workplace bullying, this study contributes to the initial academic endeavors that focus on analyzing the impacts of dark aspects of organizations that can affect bootlegging. Furthermore, till now it is only the second study that has used an experimental approach to examine employee bootlegging conduct.