Workplace Deviance in Public Sector Organizations: Evidence from Pakistan

Syed Arif Hussain Shah,Tazeem Ali Shah,Abrar Ullah,Muhammad Yasir

doi:10.34260/jaebs.514

Abstract

Deviant workplace behaviors have become an important area of research due to the recent revelation of high-profile corporate scandals. Scholars view that deviant workplace behaviors can be controlled when the factors that affect workplace deviance are properly understood. Therefore, this study is having two sections. Section one identifies the level of workplace deviance prevailing in the public sector hospitals of Pakistan, for which data was collected from 219 respondents in the understudy sector. Findings of this study show that workplace deviance exists in the understudy sector at a moderate level. Section two describes the factors that have the ability to influence the emergence of deviant workplace behaviors. Thus, this study searched for workplace deviance related articles available at the academic research databases such as Scopus and Web of Science. The keywords that were used for searching articles were “workplace deviance”, “organizational deviance”, “deviance” and “deviant behaviors”. This study outlines twenty-five factors that affect workplace deviance, thereby highlighting how workplace deviance can be minimized. Lastly, implications and suggestions for further research and practice are highlighted.

Highlights

IntroductionMatters like getting a gas connection, getting a contract to build a road, or reporting an issue to the police may not be entertained without bribing the officials and if one fails to do so, the case may remain pending for an unidentified period of time (Bashir, Khattak, Hanif, & Chohan, 2011)
After the revelation of several high-profile corporate scandals like Enron, WorldCom, and Lehman Brothers, workplace deviance has become an important issue to address
The findings of this study are consistent with the prior literature which highlights that workplace deviance exists in the public sector organizations of Pakistan, for instance, theft, purposely ignoring supervisor’s instruction, harassment, gossiping about the supervisor, corruption, blaming co-workers, and intentionally arriving late at work (Saeed & Ibrahim, 2005; Bashir et al, 2012; Nasir & Bashir, 2012; Shahzad & Malik, 2014; Jafree et al, 2015; Shaheen et al, 2021)

Summary

Introduction

Matters like getting a gas connection, getting a contract to build a road, or reporting an issue to the police may not be entertained without bribing the officials and if one fails to do so, the case may remain pending for an unidentified period of time (Bashir, Khattak, Hanif, & Chohan, 2011). This shows that workplace deviance exists in this sector. Scholars and practitioners argue that it is important to examine the factors which cause the emergence of deviant workplace behavior and how it can be controlled (Nasir & Bashir, 2012; Ahmed, Kiyani, & Hashmi, 2013; Shahzad & Malik, 2014)

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion