Negative Workplace Behaviours Research Articles

Conceptualizing employees' behavioral pattern changes by experiencing customer mistreatment: Integrating moral self‐regulation and dual process model perspectives

AbstractThis conceptual paper has two aims. The first is to explain how frontline employees' workplace sabotage initially occurs when frontline employees experience perceived mistreatment from customers. Moral outrage arises among frontline employees and mediates the relationship between customer mistreatment and workplace sabotage. The second aim is to address changes in frontline employees' behavioral patterns during working hours. Initial negative workplace behaviors (workplace sabotage) are more likely to shift to good behavior (organizational citizenship behavior toward customer; OCB‐customer) due to a need for moral cleansing, but will eventually revert to negative behaviors (additional workplace sabotage) as continuous customer mistreatment increases stress. To understand this process, moral‐self regulation theory and the dual process model are introduced to support the conceptual model. Implications and future research directions are also discussed.

New Graduate Respiratory Therapists' Perceptions of Their Transition to Practice.

The emerging challenges in the healthcare system require a vision for the future of respiratory care to ensure a successful transition to practice for new graduate respiratory therapists (RT). The nursing profession has recognized the need to acknowledge the successes and failures of graduates' transition to practice so that these programs can be continuously improved. The challenge is in identifying aspects of the transition to practice that may improve job satisfaction, retention, professional development, and patient care for RTs. This research aimed to explore the perceptions of new graduate RTs' experiences during their first year of practice and identify barriers and facilitators to a successful transition to practice. This qualitative descriptive study surveyed new graduate RTs who transitioned to practice from May 2019 to December 2021 at a New England academic medical center respiratory care department. Twenty-eight new graduate RTs responses were included in the study. The majority of the respondents experienced a successful transition to practice; however, they faced many barriers. New graduate RTs reported that their orientation did not provide enough experience and exposure to gain confidence in critical skills and procedures. They also experienced stress due to COVID-19 and interpersonal relationships, felt overwhelmed by their workload, and were subject to negative workplace behavior. New graduate RTs experienced many barriers to their transition to practice. Respiratory care leadership should identify barriers faced by new graduate RTs during their transition to practice. A nurse residency model may provide a framework for RT transition-to-practice programs. Improving transition-to-practice programs for new graduate RTs and surveying their experiences may lead to an increase in job satisfaction, retention, and improved patient care.

The workforce revolution: Reimagining work, workers, and workplaces for the future

AbstractAs the world experiences unprecedented changes driven by groundbreaking technological advancements, increasing competitive pressures, shifting demographics, evolving societal expectations, and ongoing global crises or mega‐disruptions, the nature of work is evolving at an accelerated pace. This editorial introduces The Workforce Revolution, a critical movement that aims to reimagine work, workers, and workplaces for the future to harness these transformations effectively. As businesses and organizations adapt to new realities, innovative leadership and human resource management strategies become indispensable to ensure long‐term success and sustainability. This issue of Global Business and Organizational Excellence explores the latest research, trends, and insights on the topic, providing valuable guidance to leaders and managers as they shape the future of work. Articles within this issue cover a range of topics, including employee expectation‐organizational performance gaps, positive and negative workplace behaviors, toxic and responsible leadership, traditional and transformational roles of human resources, and the future of work in the new normal. By equipping leaders and managers with the knowledge to navigate these complexities, the journal aims to foster a more resilient and adaptable workforce, poised to thrive in the dynamic landscape of the future.

Impact of dark triad personality traits on turnover intention and mental health of employees through cyberbullying

The increased usage of technology has engendered different forms of bullying. While scholars affirm that cyberbullying is considered to exhibit the most harmful impacts on individuals among the different types of bullying. It needs to be underscored that the multifaceted and recurring nature of cyberbullying, particularly in the workplace, has a more hazardous effect on employees. It is urged that the highly competitive working environment has exacerbated the problems of rivalry among employees, which subsequently pushes them towards cyberbullying. Despite an extensive body of knowledge on traditional bullying, research still lacks the effect of cyberbullying in the workplace context. This research addresses the gaps by explaining the impact of the dark triad of personality traits (DTPT) on turnover intention and employees’ mental health through cyberbullying. It incorporated a unique multistage sampling approach in which data were gathered through self-administered questionnaires from the banking sector. The analyses showed a direct relationship between the DTPT and turnover intention. Cyberbullying partially mediates the relationship between DTPT and turnover intention. Findings also indicate that the DTPT negatively affects employees’ mental health. A vital facet of this research is testing the mediating role of cyberbullying between DTPT and employees’ mental health and turnover intention. The findings are of great value to organizational stakeholders, where management can adopt various strategies and training programs to reduce the detrimental effects of cyberbullying. Such initiatives enable employees to cope with mental health issues, mitigating negative workplace behaviour and minimizing turnover intention.

Sweat the Small Stuff, How Small Incidents of Negative Workplace Behavior Lead to Larger Misconduct

Small losses, measurable incremental negative workplace behaviors that do not align with organizational and societal norms often trigger a dynamic, magnifying process that produces greater undesirable outcomes, which once started, can often result in a downward spiral. Quickly addressing small problems can prevent minor misconduct and wrongdoing from escalating into greater difficulties later that can appear unstoppable. Failure to tackle the small issues and big problems will often follow. Managers should celebrate small victories or wins but also need to address small losses. Just as small wins can result in significant organizational gains, small losses can result in business losses.

Perceiving intraorganizational mobility ameliorates the effects of low-level position on detrimental workplace attitudes and behaviors

How do the perceived chances to get a better position in a company affect how individuals feel and behave towards their employer? Confirming the theory of relative deprivation, recent research showed that social mobility belief has attenuating effects on anger about one's relative social standing. When an individual believes they can change their current social status, negative affect about one's disadvantaged standing is appeased compared to when people believe the present hierarchy is fixed. We tested this model in a workplace context, examining whether perceived intraorganizational mobility ameliorates the effects of a low position at work on negative workplace attitudes (Study 1) and behavior (Study 2). Study 1 (n = 498) found that indeed, perceiving chances of promotion weakened the association of position at work with hostile affect towards the employer. Expanding this model to provide a direct test of the theory of relative deprivation, we designed a moderated mediation model testing whether the effect of workplace position on counterproductive work behaviors was mediated by relative deprivation, and whether this indirect effect was moderated by perceived chances of promotion. As hypothesized, Study 2 (n = 408) found that perceiving chances of promotion attenuated the detrimental effect of workplace position via relative deprivation on counterproductive work behaviors. Effects in both studies occurred independently of company hierarchy, salary, educational attainment, sex, and job sector. Overall, the results suggest that perceiving potential for individual promotion is linked to lower levels of negative workplace attitudes and counterproductive work behaviors.

Supporting Bystanders and Other Staff Exposed to Negative Workplace Behaviour: Developing and Testing the IMO Intervention Framework in the Clinical Workplace.

Medical student and health-care staff bullying remain international concerns. Our understanding about what might solve such problems is still developing. A common approach suggested for bystanders to bullying is that they challenge or "stand up" to the bully. At the same time, the considerable risks should they act (eg, verbal rebuke) are rarely acknowledged, and neither is the potential for considerable cognitive dissonance should they choose not to. Drawing on a substantial literature review, we developed an interventional program, initially with medical student bullying in mind, that generally employed a discourse for values cultivation. We implemented and evaluated this program through 6 cycles of action research methodology in 6 different departments of one tertiary teaching hospital. Data include individual interviews, discussions with key participants plus freehand comments from wider staff's workshop evaluations. Alongside others, an early serendipitous finding was the "IMO" [Indirect, focus on Me, focus on Outcome] framework, intended for bystanders to student bullying. From using this framework, participants reported developing confidence in tackling negative behaviours, that interactions had better outcomes and that the workplace atmosphere felt more relaxed. It's use also significantly reduced cognitive dissonance. Encouragingly, participants went on to use IMO for staff-staff bullying incidents, and other common negative behaviours. We attribute IMO's utility to its memorability, simplicity and for catering to the many possible causes of bullying, including values issues, without perpetuating or creating conflict. The IMO framework is offered as a widely usable framework for all staff in a clinical environment - a useful addition to popular frameworks used in the clinical workplace, ideas from which might also help these be further refined. Further evaluation would establish whether IMO invites long-term change and its utility in other contexts.

How workplace bullying affects knowledge hiding? The roles of psychological contract breach and learning goal orientation

Purpose Workplace bullying is a serious problem among nurses, which results in negative workplace behavior. Therefore, this study aims to understand how workplace bullying affects employees’ knowledge hiding behavior. Specifically, this study explored psychological contract breach as an underlying mechanism between workplace bullying and knowledge hiding; and learning goal orientation as a boundary condition between psychological contract breach and knowledge hiding. Design/methodology/approach The study collected data from 343 nurses working in the health-care sector of Pakistan on convenience basis using a questionnaire-based survey between December 2021 to March 2022. The data were analyzed through structural equation modeling. Findings The results revealed the adverse effect of workplace bullying on knowledge hiding behaviors among nurses, and psychological contract breach was noted to mediate this association. Further, learning goal orientation was noted to buffer the relationship between psychological contract breach and knowledge hiding. Research limitations/implications The cross-section design may restrict causality; however, the findings suggest health-care administration take appropriate measures to reduce the adverse effects of workplace bullying. In addition, the administration is suggested to implement training programs to make nurses capable of dealing with workplace stressors (bullying and psychological contract breach). Originality/value This research provides a novel perspective to consider psychological contract breach as a mechanism between workplace bullying and knowledge hiding in the health-care sector from the conservation of resources perspective. It further explored learning goal orientation as a buffer to mitigate the effect of psychological contract breach on knowledge hiding.

A conflicted tribe under pressure: A qualitative study of negative workplace behaviour in nursing.

This study explored workplace interactions of Australian nurses in regional acute care hospitals through an examination of nurses' experiences and perceptions of workplace behaviour. This research is informed by Social Worlds Theory and is the qualitative component of an overarching mixed methods sequential explanatory study. Between January and March 2019, data were collected from 13 nursing informants from different occupational levels and roles, who engaged in semi-structured, in-depth, face-to-face interviews. Data analysis was guided by Straussian grounded theory to identify the core category and subcategories. Theoretical saturation occurred after 13 interviews. The core category identified is A conflicted tribe under pressure, which is comprised of five interrelated subcategories: Belonging to the tribe; 'It's a living hell'; Zero tolerance-'it's a joke'; Conflicted priorities; Shifting the cultural norm. This study provides valuable insight into the nursing social world and the organizational constraints in which nurses work. Although the inclination for an individual to exhibit negative behaviours cannot be dismissed, this behaviour can either be facilitated or impeded by organizational influences. By considering the nurses' experiences of negative workplace behaviour and identifying the symptoms of a struggling system, nurse leaders can work to find and implement strategies to mitigate negative behaviour and create respectful workplace behaviours. This study involved registered nurse participants and there was no patient or public contribution. Study registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (Registration No. ACTRN12618002007213; December 14, 2018).

Examining the impact of salesperson orientation on creative selling, passive deviance, and organizational outcomes

The present research examines how customer and selling orientations impact salesperson predisposition to engage in unconventional workplace behaviors. A theoretical model, routed in creativity theory (Amabile, 1983), proposes customer-oriented salespeople as more likely to engage in positive workplace behaviors (e.g., creative selling) and to avoid negative workplace behaviors (e.g., passive deviance). Conversely, the theory predicts the opposite for salespeople with relatively high selling orientation. A sample of business-to-business salespeople provides data for testing the model. Results suggest that relatively high customer orientation encourages greater creative selling and, in turn, higher job performance. Conversely, high selling orientation is associated with increased levels of passive deviance, which in turn, promotes higher turnover intentions both directly and indirectly through job performance. Finally, the research explores the moderating role of salesperson experience on the hypothesized model. The moderation results suggest that for those with less sales experience, customer orientation does relatively less in mitigating, while selling orientation does more in promoting, passive deviance.

Influence of Workplace Violence on Turnover Intention among Nurses in a University Teaching Hospital in Nigeria

Globally, workplace violence is one of the negative workplace behaviors to which nurses are most vulnerable to. There is nevertheless a paucity of research on workplace violence and turnover intention among nurses in Nigeria.

A Meta-Analytic Investigation of Antecedents of Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior

In this study, we conduct the meta-analysis of the antecedents of the Unethical Pro Organizational Behavior (UPB). Analysis of 168 studies from 125 research papers published in the last decade results in the identification of most critical antecedents of UPB. The statistically significant effect sizes of various antecedents helped us to determine the level of importance in predicting UPB where individual level variables ranked most critical followed by leader-induced variables and then organizational level variables. This aided to reconcile the inconsistencies between various variables and their role in instigating UPB. Further, the meta-analysis also contributes to deciphering the core nature of UPB by systematically and objectively comparing the voluntary negative and positive workplace behaviors. Theoretical contributions along with practical implications are also mentioned in the paper. This study also discussed various avenues for future research to advance the UPB literature.

The local lingo: Influence of Host Country Language Proficiency on Psychological Contract Breach

The psychological contract and expatriate literatures suggest that the ability of employees to communicate with their employers will avoid misunderstandings and strengthen relationships, thereby limiting the effects of breach on negative and positive workplace behavior. Proficiency in the host country language is likely to facilitate communication for self-initiated expatriates who decide to move to another country and work there. This 3-wave study, using data from 300 self-initiated expatriates, shows that psychological contract breach at time 1 is positively related to counterproductive work behavior and negatively related with organizational citizenship behavior at time 3 through feelings of violation at time 2. Furthermore, host country language proficiency moderates the relationship between breach and feelings of violation, thereby amplifying the indirect relationships between breach and the outcome variables for those who have poor levels of host country language proficiency. We discuss implications for theory, practice and future research in the field of self-initiated expatriates.

Social Undermining and Interpersonal Rumination among Employees: The Mediating Role of Being the Subject of Envy and the Moderating Role of Social Support.

Rumination is a common problem and is associated with reduced psychological well-being. However, little is known about how rumination in the workplace is affected by interpersonal relationships. We propose that negative workplace behavior could serve as a potential influencing factor for rumination. Therefore, the current study constructed a multilevel moderated mediation model to investigate the relationship between workplace unit social undermining and interpersonal rumination. We also examined whether unit social support moderated that relationship and whether being the subject of envy mediated that relationship. Survey data were collected from 630 employees in China. The results indicate that: (1) a high level of unit social undermining by either a supervisor or co-workers has a significant positive influence on interpersonal rumination; (2) being the subject of envy exerts a mediating effect between unit supervisor social undermining and interpersonal rumination, as well as between unit co-worker social undermining and interpersonal rumination; and (3) unit social support moderates the associations between unit supervisor/co-worker social undermining and interpersonal rumination. These findings extend the research on rumination to the field of management and interpersonal relationships and emphasize the potential mechanisms of rumination, providing significant guidance for reducing staff rumination and improving psychological well-being.

Creating respectful workplaces for nurses in regional acute care settings: A quasi-experimental design.

To examine self-reported exposure and experiences of negative workplace behaviour and ways of coping of nursing staff before and after educational workshops. A Quasi-experimental design. Data were collected pre- /postworkshops using a structured questionnaire. Nurses (N= 230) from 12 units in four regional acute care hospitals were invited to complete a pre-intervention survey. Educational workshops were then implemented by the organization at two of the hospitals, after which, follow-up surveys were undertaken. There were 74 responses in the pre-intervention and 56 responses in the postintervention time period. There were 111 participants who attended the educational intervention, 20% (n= 22) completed the follow-up survey. Participants were more likely exposed to work-related bullying acts and they used problem-focused coping strategies and sought social support as a way of coping when exposed to the negative behaviours. Overall, there was a decrease in both bullying and incivility experienced by participants; however, our findings were unable to establish that a statistically significant difference was made due to the implementation of the intervention. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (Registration No. ACTRN12618002007213; December 14, 2018).

Personal Competition Among Sports Players and Their Performance as a Team: A Moderated Mediation Model.

Personal competition among colleagues and co-workers has been observed in order to prove their professional superiority over others. Such behaviors have grave consequences on the overall team performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of personal competition on team performance incorporating the mediating role of the playing dumb behavior of knowledge hiding. The study has further checked the moderating effect of task interdependence on the relationship between personal competition and playing dumb. Data for the present study had been collected through questionnaires from the sports players actively associated with games through their educational institutes in China. The sample size of the study was 339, selected on the basis of convenience sampling. Smart PLS had been employed to analyze the data through structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of the study showed a strong impact of personal competition on team performance and the playing dumb variable. Furthermore, playing dumb has been found to have a strong mediating impact on team performance. The study has theoretically contributed to the literature of competition and performance by investigating the mediating role of playing dumb. The study also offers certain practical implications to the managers of the corporate world to devise such human resource policies that take appraisals from the colleagues so as to rectify the negative workplace behaviors and could be worked out accordingly.

Will Someone Be Checking My Work? The Effect of Psychological Entitlement and the Expectation of Being Monitored on Task Performance and Misreporting

SYNOPSIS Psychological entitlement is a sense that one deserves more than others and is correlated with a host of negative workplace behaviors. Because entitled individuals have a strong desire for the approval of others, we examine whether increasing the expectation of being monitored can limit some of these negative behaviors. We find that when the expectation of being monitored is low, psychological entitlement is associated with lower performance and higher misreporting. In contrast, when the expectation of being monitored is high, not only are these behaviors reduced, but performance increases and misreporting decreases for entitled individuals. Our results suggest that expectations of performance monitoring can be used to improve workplace outcomes for entitled employees.

Deconstructing ahimsa at the workplace: its relevance and significance

PurposeThis paper aims to conceptualize ahimsa at the workplace as an alternate coping response to negative workplace behaviours. The response strategy aims to impede conflict escalation and transform a hostile situation into a collaborative one.Design/methodology/approachThe conceptualization of the indigenous construct bases upon Bhawuk's methodological suggestion on building psychological models from the scriptures (Bhawuk, 2010, 2017, 2019). The construct ahimsa explicates by synthesizing the micro-world (Bhagawad Gita, BG and Patanjali Yoga Sutras, PYS) and through the lifeworld of Gandhiji.FindingsThe conceptual analysis illustrates the efficacy of ahimsa as an alternate response to negative workplace behaviours. The definition delineates its three core characteristics, i.e. conscious non-violent action, self-empowerment and rehumanizing the perpetrator. Besides, it proposes to enhance metacognition, creativity and individual learning at the workplace.Originality/valueThe conceptual paper gives a new direction to management researchers on coping and responding to stress.

Multilevel Identification Sources as Predictors of Deviant Workplace Behaviors

The purpose of the study is to explore the effects of multilevel identification sources on negative and positive deviant workplace behavior within the theoretical framework of social exchange and social identity theories. Data were collected from a survey of 425 participants working in different sectors in Turkey. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research model. Results showed that organizational identification is negatively associated with negative deviant workplace behavior and positively associated with positive deviant workplace behavior. In addition, it was found that organizational identification is more related to the organizational dimension of negative and positive deviant workplace behavior; on the other hand, relational identification is more related to the interpersonal dimension of negative and positive deviant workplace behavior within the target similarity model. However, no significant relationship between occupational identification and negative deviant workplace behavior was found.

Spiritual workspace and incivility: unraveling the psychological mechanisms and boundary conditions

The role of a spiritual work atmosphere in mitigating the occurrence of negative workplace behaviors has gained the attention of management scholars lately. However, the underlying psychological mechanisms and contingencies governing the relationship between spiritual workspace and counterproductive behaviors are unknown. Addressing this gap, the present study examined the indirect effect of workplace spirituality on two forms of incivility at work via ethical climate. The study also investigated the moderating effect of narcissism on the mediated relationship between spirituality and incivility through ethical climate. The research hypotheses were tested on a sample of 338 employees working in the Indian hotel industry in two different studies. The findings established the mediating role of ethical climate on the association between workplace spirituality and incivility. Results also confirmed the moderating effect of narcissism on the indirect relationship of spirituality with incivility through ethical climate. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.