From One of Us to Us: Developing a Theoretical Model of Collective Deviance in IS

Abstract

Deviance-related behaviors like violations of Information Systems (IS) policies are increasingly common in organizations. These situations of non-compliance with IS policies are subject to various mechanisms inside workgroups, suggesting the collective-level as an important supplement to individual-level explanations to understand deviant acts in the workplace. We rely on social psychology and criminology literature to address collective deviance and to explain its importance for IS research. Our purpose is to investigate the mechanisms behind the deviant behavior among workgroup members, uncovering reasons for the dissemination of collective deviance within organizations and offering a theoretical model that explains the phenomenon. We performed a qualitative study with an exploratory perspective by interviewing members of 5 workgroups deviating from IS policies. The results show that collective deviance immediately disseminates after introduction, emerges as predominant group norm, and indefinitely continues over time in an uninterrupted way despite changes in group size and membership.