Deviance Relationship Research Articles

The Interaction Between Job Embeddedness and Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) in Predicting Employee Altruism and Deviance.

Drawing upon conservation of resources and social bonding theories, the present study examined the associations between job embeddedness and employee work behaviors (altruism and organizational deviance) by exploring the moderating role of leader-member exchange (LMX) in these associations. Using a cross-sectional research design, data were collected from a sample of 637 employees in Turkey. The data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping. The findings indicated that job embeddedness was positively related to employee altruism while negatively related to organizational deviance. This study also provided support for the moderating role of LMX in job embeddedness-altruism and job embeddedness-organizational deviance relationships. More specifically, job embeddedness had a stronger positive relationship with altruism and a stronger negative relationship with organizational deviance when LMX quality was high. These findings substantiate the pivotal role of focusing on both job embeddedness and the treatment by supervisors in the organization to inculcate desirable workplace behaviors and employee performance motivation. The implications are discussed as well as limitations, and directions for future research are provided.

“My contract is breached, and I want to leave, but I am embedded!” how do reluctant stayers respond?

PurposeThis study takes a unique perspective on the role of psychological contract breach, turnover intentions and off-the-job embeddedness in influencing the behavior of reluctant stayers. More specifically, reluctant stayers are defined as employees who are high on turnover intentions and off-the-job embeddedness. It proposes that employees who perceive psychological contract breaches are more likely to develop turnover intentions. Such breaches are expected to indirectly spur organizational deviance, with turnover intentions as the mediator. Finally, a moderated-mediation model is proposed where off-the-job embeddedness is expected to moderate the relationship between turnover intentions and organizational deviance.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 231 employees across the energy sector within the Caribbean nation of Trinidad, using a two-wave research design and a path-analytic approach.FindingsThe findings provide support for the propositions that perceived psychological contract breach predicts turnover intentions and that turnover intentions mediate the contract breach–organizational deviance relationship. Further, the proposition that off-the-job embeddedness moderates the relationship between turnover intentions and organizational deviance was supported by the sample data. Consequently, reluctant stayers (employees with high turnover intentions and high off-the-job embeddedness) responded to perceived psychological contract breach with higher levels of organizational deviance when they were more deeply embedded.Originality/valueLimited studies have explored the behaviors of reluctant stayers, and hence this study adds to research on this emerging classification of employees. Furthermore, no study has yet explored the role of high turnover intentions and off-the-job embeddedness in creating reluctant stayers.

Why Good Employees Do Bad Things: The Link between Pro-Environmental Behavior and Workplace Deviance.

Despite the significance of pro-environmental behavior (PEB) in the workplace, most of the existing studies have neglected its negative work outcomes. Drawing upon moral licensing theory and cognitive dissonance theory, we construct a conceptual model of the influence mechanism of employees' PEB (i.e., public-sphere PEB, private-sphere PEB) on workplace deviance through psychological entitlement, and the moderating effect of rationalization of workplace deviance on the relationship between psychological entitlement and workplace deviance. Using two-stage survey data from 216 employees in China, we performed hierarchical regression analysis and structural equation modeling method to test our hypotheses. Our findings reveal that public-sphere PEB positively affects psychological entitlement, while private-sphere PEB negatively affects psychological entitlement. Psychological entitlement further positively affects workplace deviance. In addition, rationalization of workplace deviance strengthens the positive impact of psychological entitlement on workplace deviance. This study offers novel insights into the dark side of PEB literature by exploring the PEB-workplace deviance relationship. This study also contributes to managerial implications of how PEB leads to workplace deviance and how to address this issue.

Good and Bad Influences: A Meta-Analysis of Leader Behavior on Followers’ Experienced and Perpetrated Deviance

ABSTRACT Despite the rise in research on leader behaviors and workplace deviance, a comprehensive understanding of the magnitude of associations between the different forms of leader behaviors and workplace deviance is lacking. Drawing on Social Learning Theory and Banks and colleagues’) framework of leader behaviors, our meta-analysis provides a rank ordering of leader behaviors (i.e., moral, inspirational, task-oriented, relational, and passive) based on their importance in predicting workplace deviance using 104 independent samples (N = 42,968). Additionally, we consolidate the literatures on perpetrated and experienced deviance to investigate the association between leader behaviors and deviance from both perspectives. We also assess three boundary conditions that could moderate the leader behavior – workplace deviance relationship. Our findings suggest that passive leader behaviors explain the greatest variance in workplace deviance, followed by moral, relational, inspirational, and task-oriented leader behaviors. We also find support for the moderating effects of deviance target, study design, and rater in(dependence) on the association between leader behaviors and workplace deviance. We highlight that passive leader behaviors exhibit a greater influence on workplace deviance relative to the influence of positive leader behaviors. We discuss the implications of our results for both research and practice.

Leader Humility, Sense of Power, and Interpersonal Deviance Relationship Model in the Bureaucratic Culture.

PurposeDrawing on the approach—inhibition theory of power and the containment theory of control—we propose a relationship model of leader humility, sense of power, and interpersonal deviance, by placing bureaucratic culture as a boundary condition.Design/Methodology/ApproachUsing a moderated mediation model, this study applies hierarchical regression and bootstrapping analyses to data obtained from online questionnaire responses of 428 employees from various sectors in Indonesia.FindingsThe results reveal a positive relationship between leader humility and employees perceptions of the sense of power, as well as between the sense of power to interpersonal deviance. In addition, we confirmed the mediating role of the sense of power on the relationship between leader humility and interpersonal deviant. Bureaucratic culture has been confirmed to moderate the relationship between a sense of power and interpersonal deviance.Practical ImplicationsCompanies can provide leadership training to leaders to convey to them when and where to demonstrate humility. Furthermore, the effectiveness of leaders' humility can be increased and their sense of power and interpersonal deviance reduced if the company adopts a low-level bureaucratic culture.Originality/ValueThe current study contributes to the extant literature by revealing the moderating effects of bureaucratic culture on the relationship between the sense of power and interpersonal deviance, clarifying how, and when employees' sense of power stimulates interpersonal deviance in the Asian context.

A self-regulatory perspective on the link between customer mistreatment and employees’ displaced workplace deviance: the buffering role of mindfulness

PurposeDrawing from self-regulation theories, this study aims to present a model linking customer mistreatment to hotel employees’ displaced workplace deviance via self-regulatory depletion, with disposition-based mindfulness as a first‐stage moderator.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a multisource, multiwave investigation with 245 focal–coworker dyads at 14 full-service hotels in southern China. Descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and regression analysis were performed.FindingsThe results demonstrated the mediating role of self-regulatory depletion in provoking hotel employees’ displaced deviant reactions to customer mistreatment. Additionally, employees with high trait mindfulness are less vulnerable to self-regulatory depletion and, thus, less likely to exhibit displaced workplace deviance.Practical implicationsThis study enables hospitality administrators to understand that organizations and their employees, whether directly mistreated by customers, are potential victims of such negative events. Hospitality organizations should enhance mindfulness-based interventions and provide more humane care for employees to maintain their self-regulatory abilities, thereby reducing displaced workplace deviance.Originality/valueFirst, in contrast to studies focusing primarily on internal factors that trigger employees’ deviant responses, the research suggests that mistreatment by external customers is a potentially meaningful yet largely unexamined antecedent of workplace deviance. Second, this study moves beyond “self-gain” explanations, suggesting that employees display deviance not because of a malicious intent to harm the organization or its members but because they are incapable of controlling their undesirable behaviors. Third, the research highlights how mindfulness mitigates customer mistreatment and displaced workplace deviance relationships.

Compulsory Citizenship Behavior and Its Outcomes: Two Mediation Models.

Employees view compulsory citizenship behavior (CCB) as concessionary behavior they undertake because of pressure exerted by their organizations. This study applies affective events theory to CCB-workplace deviance relationships, and impression management theory to CCB-facades of conformity relationships, to posit that employee emotional exhaustion is an essential mediating factor that effectively explains how CCB contributes to workplace deviance and facades of conformity. This study utilizes two mediation models to investigate whether employees’ CCBs are positively related to their work deviance and false behavior, and how emotional exhaustion mediates those relationships. Two-wave data collected from 655 valid participants (480 males, 175 females; average age of 30.1 years) in a public sector bank and a large private bank in Taiwan supported our hypotheses. We conducted surveys with volunteer employees that included CCB, emotional exhaustion, facades of conformity, and work deviance. The results of this study uncovered statistically significant relationships between CCB and work deviance and between CCB and facades of conformity and revealed that emotional exhaustion significantly mediated these relationships. Implications and directions for future study are discussed.

Abusive Supervision and Supervisor-Directed Deviance: A Social Network Approach

Supervisor-directed deviance is a well-established consequence of abusive supervision. However, prior accounts of the abuse–deviance relationship have overlooked the role played by power embedded in subordinates’ informal social context. To address this gap, we draw on power-dependence theory and use a social network approach to explain the link between abusive supervision and supervisor-directed deviance. In doing so, we propose a three-way interaction in which the abuse–deviance relationship is impacted by two components of informal power: subordinate social network centrality and subordinate influence. In particular, we propose that the relationship will be the strongest when subordinates have high betweenness centrality and high influence. We gathered full social network data, as well as self-report surveys from 272 primary school teachers and government contract workers in Northern China. Our results provide support for the notion that supervisor-directed deviance emerges most strongly as a consequence of abusive supervision for employees who wield informal power in their organization.

The Negative Role of Organizational Embeddedness in Organizational Support, Trust and Deviance Relationships: Evidence from Pakistan

The Negative Role of Organizational Embeddedness in Organizational Support, Trust and Deviance Relationships: Evidence from Pakistan

It Matters! Emotion Regulation Strategy Use Moderates the Relationship Between Abusive Supervision and Supervisor-Directed Deviance

This study examined the moderating effects of cognitive reappraisal and emotional suppression, two contrasting and representative emotion regulation strategies, on the abusive supervision - supervisor-directed deviance relationship. We tested the moderation hypotheses with two samples. Sample 1 consisted of a group of 499 English-speaking full-time workers recruited from TurkPrime. Sample 2 included a group of 318 Chinese full-time workers from various organizations. These two samples provided convergent evidence for the moderation effects of both cognitive reappraisal and emotional suppression. Specifically, cognitive reappraisal weakened the relationship between abusive supervision and supervisor-directed deviance such that the relationship was weaker among employees with higher than lower cognitive reappraisal. Emotional suppression exaggerated the association between abusive supervision and supervisor-directed deviance such that this association was stronger for employees with higher than lower emotional suppression. Our findings highlight the differential effectiveness of cognitive reappraisal and emotional suppression in coping with abusive supervision. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Mediating role of employees\u2019 trust in the relationship between ethical leadership and workplace deviance in the public sector hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The increase in deviant workplace behavior within organizations is compelling scholars and practitioners to find an appropriate solution to control this dilemma. Therefore, this research attempts to investigate the association between ethical leadership and workplace deviance, with employees’ trust as a mediator in the relationship between ethical leadership and workplace deviance in the public sector hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. This research utilized survey strategy, with a quantitative method using a cross-sectional design, applied convenient sampling technique and usable questionnaires were 202 from the understudy sector. Furthermore, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was utilized to screen the data. SPSS was further used for computing preliminary data analysis, for instance, normality, reliability, standard deviation, mean, and frequencies for each construct. Furthermore, correlation and regression analyses were conducted. This study found (a) a negative and significant association between ethical leadership and workplace deviance, (b) a positive and significant relationship between ethical leadership and employees’ trust (c) a negative and significant association between employees’ trust and workplace deviance, and (d) that employees’ trust mediates between the relationship of ethical leadership and workplace deviance. Therefore, this study highlights several theoretical and practical implications and provides further insight into how workplace deviance can be controlled specifically in the public sector hospitals of KPK. Lastly, limitations and suggestions for future researches are provided.

A cross-cultural examination of the relationships between job attitudes and workplace deviance

A growing scientific literature has examined the predictors of workplace deviance, with much of this research focusing on job attitudes—particularly job satisfaction and organizational commitment—as antecedent variables. Because this research has primarily been conducted within North America, little is known about whether or not the relationships between attitudes and deviance vary across cultures. Thus, in the current research we examined the job attitude-workplace deviance relationship using data collected from workers in four different countries (i.e., China, India, Malaysia, and New Zealand) and meta-analysis. Results for the Malaysian and New Zealand samples indicated that job attitudes were negatively associated with all three measures of workplace deviance. Within the Chinese sample, job satisfaction and organizational commitment were only modestly related to three and two measures of workplace deviance, respectively. Moreover, within the Indian sample, job attitudes were not significantly related to any form of workplace deviance. Finally, the meta-analytic comparisons lent further support to the variability in the job attitude-workplace deviance relationship across cultures.

Organisational embeddedness as a moderator on the organisational support, trust and workplace deviance relationships

PurposeEmerging research calls for the exploration of the potential negative side of organisational embeddedness. It is important to assess such negative aspects to fully understand the power of embeddedness, and how to address the potential undesirable effects on employees and organisations. The purpose of this paper is to answer this call by assessing the extent to which organisational embeddedness can negatively influence the perceived organisational support-workplace deviance and the organisational trust–deviance relationships.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 969 employees across the financial services sector in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad is used, with a two-wave research design. Multiple hierarchical regression analysis is used to test the research relationships.FindingsThe findings support the propositions that organisational support and trust each negatively predicts workplace deviance and organisational embeddedness moderates each of these relationships in an undesirable way, such that, higher embeddedness weakens the desirable relationships between support, trust and deviance.Originality/valueThis study addresses a clear gap since limited studies explore the potential negative impact of organisational embeddedness on various work perceptions and behaviours. Embeddedness is largely considered a predictor of various desirable employee and organisational outcomes.

“I want to leave, but there is nowhere to go”

PurposeLimited research has explored the behavioural tendencies of reluctant stayers. This study aims to expand research here to explain how employees who are victims of abusive supervision behave when they intend to leave but are unable to because of limited job alternatives. This study postulates that employees who are victims of abusive supervision are more likely to develop intentions to leave their job. Abusive supervision is expected to indirectly spur workplace deviance, with turnover intentions as the mediator. Further, the availability of job alternatives is expected to moderate the relationship between turnover intentions and workplace deviance, thereby forming a moderated-mediation model.Design/methodology/approachEmployee data were collected from 228 frontline employees within the banking sector of Trinidad, using a two-wave research design. A path-analytic approach was used to test the research relationships.FindingsThe findings provided support for the propositions that abusive supervision predicts turnover intentions, that turnover intentions mediate the abusive supervision – workplace deviance relationship, and that the availability of job alternatives moderate the relationship between turnover intentions and workplace deviance.Originality/valueThis study addresses a clear research gap, as no study has examined how employees who are victims of abusive supervision behave when they intend to leave but are unable to because of limited job alternatives. In fact, few studies have explored the behaviour of reluctant stayers and the moderating role of job alternatives in the behaviours of such stayers.

Engagement as a moderator on the embeddedness-deviance relationship

PurposeThis paper aims to suggest that organizational embeddedness can predict workplace deviance and employee work engagement can moderate the relationship between organizational embeddedness and workplace deviance such that when employee work engagement is higher, the relationship between organizational embeddedness and workplace deviance is weaker.Design/methodology/approachEmployee data were collected from 465 frontline employees across the financial services sector in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad. A three-step multiple hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the research relationships.FindingsThe findings provided support for the propositions that organizational embeddedness predicts workplace deviance and that employee work engagement moderates the organizational embeddedness–workplace deviance relationship.Originality/valueThis study addresses a clear gap as limited studies have explored the association of embeddedness with negative work behaviours, such as deviance, and no study have examined the moderating role of engagement in this relationship.

Acting but Not Reacting: Role of Mindfulness in Moderating the PCV – Deviance Relationship

The current study examines processes through which the negative impact of perceived organizational violation on deviance could be curbed. Specifically, this study introduces mindfulness to the psyc...

The Relationship between Religion and Deviance in a Largely Irreligious Country: Findings from the 2010 China General Social Survey

ABSTRACTWe examined the religion–deviance relationship in China, analyzing the 2010 China General Social Survey data to estimate ordinary least squares, logistic, and negative binomial regression models. First, we found respondents who followed some form of religion to be no different from those without religion in law or rule violation. Second, respondents of folk religion were more favorable to unconventional sex than those without religion, and those of organized religion were less so. Finally, respondents of organized religion were less likely to report daily drinking and smoking than their irreligious counterparts, whereas those of folk religion were not different from the religious nones.

What motivates deviant behavior in the workplace? An examination of the mechanisms by which procedural injustice affects deviance

This research examines the motivational and social-cognitive processes underlying the procedural injustice and deviance relationship. Based on psychological need and self-determination theories, it was hypothesized that intrinsic motivation would mediate the relationship between procedural injustice and deviance. Based on the general aggression model and social-cognitive theory, it was hypothesized that this positive indirect effect would be moderated by dispositional aggression. Two studies were conducted, including multi-wave and multi-source data, to test these relationships through mediation and moderated mediation procedures. Results supported both hypotheses: intrinsic motivation mediated the procedural injustice and deviance relationship; and this positive indirect effect was moderated by dispositional aggression, such that higher levels of aggression increased the magnitude of the indirect effect. Results were consistent across multiple measures of intrinsic motivation, aggression, and deviance (self- and other-report). Theoretical and practical contributions include support for a process-based theory of deviant behavior in the workplace and organizational interventions aimed at enriching one’s job to develop greater feelings of intrinsic motivation.

Job embeddedness: is it always a good thing?

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to compare the explanatory power of reactance theory and power dependence theory in predicting the moderating effect of job embeddedness on the organizational trust-workplace deviance relationship.Design/Methodology/Approach– Cross-sectional data were collected from a sample of nurses (n=353) via an online survey organization. The data were analyzed using hierarchical regression.Findings– Job embeddedness significantly moderated the organizational trust-workplace deviance relationship such that participants who experienced low organizational trust and high job embeddedness engaged in more workplace deviance than those experiencing low organizational trust and low job embeddedness.Practical implications– Organizations should attempt to build and maintain employees’ organizational trust since employees who lack organizational trust are more likely to act deviantly. Additionally, organizations should realize that job embeddedness is not always beneficial. Therefore, organizations should seek to reduce negative perceptions of job embeddedness by alerting employees (especially those who are the most distrusting) of other job opportunities and providing more generalizable skill training, to enhance employees’ perceptions of mobility.Originality value– This study demonstrates that job embeddedness can be applied to models (i.e., the organizational trust-workplace deviance relationship) beyond those that have previously included turnover as an outcome (i.e., Leeet al., 2014), and that such influences may be negative. More notably, the results provide evidence supporting the notion of the negative side of job embeddedness.

Civility climate mitigates deviant reactions to organizational constraints

Purpose– Research has consistently shown that organizational constraints lead to deviant behavioral reactions. Although many studies have investigated personality variables as moderators of such predictors of deviance, considerably less research has considered cross-level moderators of these effects. The purpose of this paper is to draw on several related theories to test team civility climate as a cross-level moderator of the organizational constraints – interpersonal deviance relationship.Design/methodology/approach– Data were collected using paper-and-pencil surveys from 239 employees nested within 68 work teams. Teams were employed in various industries including healthcare, insurance, manufacturing/engineering, and financial services.Findings– Results from hierarchical linear modeling analyses demonstrated that the effect of organizational constraints on interpersonal deviance varied significantly across teams. In addition, the positive relationship between organizational constraints and interpersonal deviance was attenuated in teams with a high civility climate.Practical implications– Organizational constraints may be difficult to eliminate in many workplaces. However, results suggest that by developing a positive civility climate, teams can help prevent deviant behaviors that may be associated with experienced constraints.Originality/value– This is one of the first studies to examine civility climate as a shared property of the team and as a cross-level moderator. Findings from this research contribute to theories of deviant organizational behavior by highlighting the critical role of variables emanating from levels of analysis beyond the individual.