Linking organizational cronyism to deviant workplace behavior: Testing the mediating role of employee negligence in Pakistani higher education institutions

Abstract

ABSTRACT Organizational cronyism is described as a relationship, companionship, and friendship based favoring. There are a number of examples regarding the existence of organizational cronyism in the workplace. However, there are a few empirical studies on this most observable fact and its consequences specifically in the higher education sector. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of organizational cronyism on deviant workplace behavior in public sector universities of Pakistan. Second, we use employee negligence as a mediating mechanism to explain how the construct of organizational cronyism translates into deviant workplace behavior. Using a time-lagged (three waves) research design, the data were collected from 250 faculty members of public sector universities of Pakistan. Hypothesized relationships were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach, using SmartPls 3.2.8 software. The results reveal that organizational cronyism increases employee deviant workplace behavior and employee negligence partially mediates the relationship between organizational cronyism and deviant workplace behavior. Managerial and theoretical implications, along with future research directions, are also discussed.