The Role of Perceived Organizational Justice and Job Satisfaction in Municipality Employees' Cyberslacking Behaviors

Based on equity theory, if employees feel a sense of inequity, their organizational justice perceptions and job satisfaction are considered to be affected negatively. As a defense mechanism to undesired consequences, employees may use neutralization techniques, which pave the way for counterproductive work behaviors. Thus, when employees use “claim of relative acceptability,” which can be summarized as “in comparison to many others, my behavior is nothing at all,” in return to any injustice within the organization, the result may occur as a counter-productive work behavior. Cyberslacking, which is defined as the use of the internet for non-work-related purposes during working hours, is considered to be one of these counterproductive work behaviors. The aim of the study is to examine the effect of perceived organizational justice and job satisfaction levels of municipal employees on their cyberslacking behaviors. The results of analyses showed that perceived organizational justice and job satisfaction levels of employees are negatively associated with cyberslacking behaviors.

Salesperson grit: reducing unethical behavior and job stress

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between grit, unethical behavior and job stress among business-to-business salespeople. Design/methodology/approach The empirical analysis includes 240 business-to-business salespeople. Structural equation modeling is used to test the study’s hypotheses. Findings Results suggest grit is directly related to less frequent unethical behavior and customer-directed deviance. Neutralization techniques positively moderate the relationship between salesperson grit and both unethical behavior and customer-directed deviance. Grit is indirectly related to job stress through the positive relationship between unethical behavior and job stress. Research limitations/implications Given research on grit in sales is relatively new several opportunities to pursue additional research in this area are presented. Practical implications Sales leaders may benefit from administering the salesperson grit scale as part of the screening process and developing grit among salespeople through training and coaching. Sales leaders should emphasize the negative impact of adopting neutralization techniques (excuses) in condoning unethical behaviors. The indirect effect of grit in reducing job stress through ethical behaviors underscores potential ways to mitigate costly and detrimental sales outcome losses. Originality/value This study develops a novel framework to explore the relationships between grit and unethical behaviors as moderated by neutralization techniques (excuses); examines an additional component of grit not previously considered in some studies of salespeople; and investigates whether these relationships increase a previously unexplored outcome – job stress.

Through the Smokescreen of the Dieselgate Disclosure: Neutralizing the Impacts of a Major Sustainability Scandal

This article analyzes the main neutralization techniques used in car manufacturers’ sustainability reports to disclose on the Dieselgate scandal. We conduct a conventional qualitative content analysis of 72 sustainability reports, covering the period 2013-2017, from 15 car manufacturers that were accused of unethical behaviors related to the measurement of diesel vehicle pollutant emissions. We then present a framework based on four configurations of neutralization techniques, namely, “head in the sand,” “self-proclaimed green leadership,” “wait and see,” and “start of a new era.” We describe that the manufacturers used heterogeneous neutralization techniques. Furthermore, the sustainability reports analyzed are relatively opaque and disconnected from the accusations made against the companies, which are widely reported by external sources. This article contributes to the emerging literature on the defensive impression management practices used to rationalize corporate misconduct in this area.

Drifters and Delinquents: Commitment and Neutralization in Low- and High-Rate Offending Early Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to compare drift/neutralization and criminal lifestyle interpretations of the neutralization-delinquency nexus in 1,005 (498 boys, 506 girls) youth (mean age = 11.22 years) organized into three groups: no delinquency, low-rate delinquency, and high-rate delinquency. Findings showed that low-rate delinquent youth were as committed to conventional social relationships as nondelinquent youth and more committed to conventional relationships than high-rate delinquent youth. It was further noted that low-rate or drifting delinquents used neutralization techniques more often than nondelinquents but less often than high-rate delinquents. These results suggest that neutralization may be less a matter of relieving guilt after having violated the law than it is a way of constructing a moral value system that supports crime.

Techniques of Neutralization in Narratives of Addicted Gamers: A Social Science Approach on Gaming Disorder

Due to a hegemony of psychology, the phenomenon of addicted gaming tends to be conceptualized as a chronic illness. Taking a sociological perspective requires reframing the phenomenon: As deviant behavior, and therefore as a behavior, that goes against behavioral expectations of social groups. Such change of perspective raises new questions and sheds light on aspects of the phenomenon that have been unstudied so far. The article takes one step in this direction and applies the concept of neutralization as a heuristic to study how gamers classified as addicted make sense of their deviant gaming practices. Analyses of biographical-narrative interviews with addicted gamers indicate that they use five neutralization techniques in order to carry out their deviant practices without generally questioning social norms, these are rejection of individual responsibility, trivializing revaluation, positive revaluation, revaluation of deviance as self-determined choice and condemnation of instances of social control.

Spatial and Temporal Dilemmas of Managers and Entrepreneurs. The Reconstruction of Neutralization Techniques

It is often assumed (in line with social expectations) that being a business manager and/or owner implies the feeling of omnipotence. Not only do organizational leaders run businesses, but they are also qualified to do so and are well-organized to physically and mentally cope with their duties. Thus, permanent (external and internal) pressure forces key organizational actors to use self-presentation strategies that meet social expectations. Narratives of organizational leaders show that other aspects of their lives are subdued to the sphere of business activities or are even incorporated by it. One of the most dominant strategies is to present oneself as an inner-directed individual in control of one’s career (a “self-made man” or “self-made woman”). At the same time, such an attitude results in “tensions” between irreconcilable roles or activities undertaken in various spheres of life. These tensions are depicted in the paper. The author shows different types of neutralization techniques used by organizational leaders to overcome or mitigate these tensions. Eleven neutralization practices have been outlined. These techniques have been identified in the course of the nearly decade-long research into spatial and temporal dimensions of careers of managers and entrepreneurs.

Invisible children? Non-recognition, humanitarian blindness and other forms of ignorance in Sabah, Malaysia

In the Malaysian state of Sabah, public antipathy towards the presence of large numbers of migrant workers influences a widespread ignorance of the educational and other exclusions of their children. Children of migrants are rendered invisible in Sabahan cultural discourse because they are not recognized as proper subjects, or even as ‘normal’ children. Cultural denial of such children’s circumstances can be seen in local newspaper reports that consider such children with reference to fears of ‘illegals’ and their threat to future Sabahan citizens. This discourse draws on a particular understanding of child deservingness, and utilizes what Cohen describes as ‘neutralization techniques’. However, such apparently wilful blindness can best be understood by considering it on a spectrum of different forms of ignorance and denial. This includes the blatant lack of recognition afforded by powerful individuals who should be more aware of the children of their workers, the humanitarian blindness of volunteer teachers who over-emphasize the saving power of education, and the complex and situational ignorance of children of migrants themselves. Appreciating other, potentially more benign or protective, forms of denial is crucial to understanding how ignorance of the complexity of the situation of children of migrants continues, even among those hoping to resolve it.