Bottom line above all: A meta‐analysis of antecedents and consequences of leader bottom‐line mentality

Abstract In today's increasingly competitive organizational environments, many leaders have adopted a single‐minded pursuit of bottom‐line objectives—defined as leader bottom‐line mentality (BLM)—to boost personal rewards and organizational profits. While existing literature on leader BLM is extensive, it remains fragmented, leaving two critical questions unresolved: What drives leaders' adoption of BLM, and how does it shape employee outcomes? To address these gaps, we propose an integrated model that identifies personal and situational antecedents of leader BLM, as well as key mechanisms through which leader BLM influences employees' work outcomes. Based on 68 independent samples ( N = 15,818), our meta‐analytic findings reveal that both personal (competitiveness, performance reward expectancy) and situational factors (ethical climate, competitive climate, performance pressure) are significantly associated with leader BLM. Leader BLM exerts its influence through three distinct pathways—cognitive compliance, relational impairment and resource depletion—ultimately leading to lower task performance, reduced organizational citizenship behaviours, diminished well‐being and greater unethical behaviours. We also found leader BLM is more positively correlated with employee task performance in non‐Western, high power distance, low individualism, high long‐term orientation and low indulgence samples. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these findings, along with the study's limitations and future research directions.