Stripped of Agency: The Paradoxical Effect of Employee Monitoring on Deviance

Organizations have long sought to mitigate risks associated with unsupervised employee conduct (e.g., employee deviance) through employee monitoring, an approach consistent with traditional theorizing. Yet the effectiveness of employee monitoring as a deviance deterrent has been called into question by emerging evidence suggesting that monitored employees may actually engage in higher levels of deviance. To address this critical tension and shed light on why and when monitoring leads to deviance, we draw upon social cognitive theory to examine the self-regulatory consequences of employee monitoring. We theorize that monitoring paradoxically creates conditions for more (not less) deviance by diminishing employees’ sense of agency, thereby facilitating moral disengagement via displacement of responsibility. Integrating fairness heuristic theory, we further argue that overall justice provides a powerful heuristic that mitigates the potential loss of sense of agency associated with monitoring. Accordingly, we suggest that employee perceptions of high justice will attenuate displacement of responsibility and, in turn, deviance. Across a field study and an experimental study, we find converging support for our predictions and rule out alternative explanations. This research provides important theoretical and practical insights into how monitoring can be used effectively without also promoting unintended consequences.

Employee perception of talent management practices and turnover intentions: a multiple mediator model

PurposeThe study aims to investigate employees' overall justice perception and job stress as multiple mediators in the relationship between perceived talent management (TM) practices and turnover intention.Design/methodology/approachCovering various industries in Bangkok, Thailand, the sample of the study consists of 552 employees, including both talented employees and normal employees as defined by their organization. Online questionnaires were distributed internally by selected organizations, and structural equations modeling was used to analyze the data.FindingsThe results indicate that both overall justice perception and job stress mediate the relationship between perceived TM practices and turnover intention.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the lack of empirical evidence in TM literature and aids in the design of better TM strategies to deliver effective organizational investments in its people.

Justice and Inclusion Mutually Cause Each Other

Justice should increase inclusion because just treatment conveys acceptance and enables social exchanges that build cohesion. Inclusion should increase justice because people can use inclusion as a convenient fairness cue. Prior research touches on these causal associations but relies on a thin conception of inclusion and neglects within-person effects. We analyze whether justice causes inclusion at the within-person level. Five waves of data were gathered from 235 college students in 38 entrepreneurial teams. Teams were similar in size, work experience, deadlines, and goals. General cross-lagged panel models indicated that justice and inclusion had a reciprocal influence on each other. A robustness check with random-intercept cross-lagged models supported the results. In the long run, reversion to the mean occurred after an effect decayed, suggesting that virtuous or vicious cycles are unlikely. The results imply that maintaining overall justice at the peer-to-peer level may lead to inclusion.

Justice and Inclusion Mutually Cause Each Other

Justice should increase inclusion because just treatment conveys acceptance and enables social exchanges that build cohesion. Inclusion should increase justice because people can use inclusion as a convenient fairness cue. Prior research touches on these causal associations but relies on a thin conception of inclusion and neglects within-person effects. We analyze whether justice causes inclusion at the within-person level. Five waves of data were gathered from 235 college students in 38 entrepreneurial teams. Teams were similar in size, work experience, deadlines, and goals. General cross-lagged panel models (GLCM) indicated that justice and inclusion had a reciprocal influence on each other. A robustness check with random-intercept cross-lagged models (RI-CLPM) supported the results. In the long run, reversion to the mean occurred after an effect decayed, suggesting that virtuous or vicious cycles are unlikely. The results imply that maintaining overall justice at the peer-to-peer level may lead to inclusion.

How cheating undermines the perceived value of justice in the workplace: the mediating effect of shame

Scholars have devoted significant attention to investigating whenand whypeople cheat in organizations. However, there is increasing recognition that these behaviors can be difficult to eradicate, which points to the importance of understanding the consequencesof cheating. Given that cheating violatesmoral norms that govern social relationships, it is critical to understand how cheating can influence social dynamics in the workplace. Drawing upon appraisal theories, we argue that cheating can have damaging consequences for individuals and their social relationships by eliciting shame. In turn, shame can reduce the extent to which individuals value receiving justice –a critical facilitator of social relationships in the workplace. We test our predictions across sixstudies using different samples and methodologies. In Study 1, we find that cheatingis negatively associated with the importance people place on others upholding justicefor them (i.e., overall justice values). In Studies 2-6, we demonstrate that shame plays a mediating role in this relationship, even in the presence of guilt and embarrassment.In Studies 3-5, we identify organizational identificationas a moderator and show that the effect of cheating on shame isstronger for those with high (versus low) identification. Theoretical implications include theimportance of identifying the outcomes of cheating for individuals within organizational contexts, understanding the functionaland dysfunctional consequences of shame, recognizing the differential effects of discrete emotions, and elucidating the role of identity within the context of cheating. We conclude with practical recommendations formanaging cheating behaviors and their outcomes in the workplace. Keywords: cheating, behavioral ethics, justice, shame, organizational identification

How cheating undermines the perceived value of justice in the workplace: the mediating effect of shame

Scholars have devoted significant attention to investigating whenand whypeople cheat in organizations. However, there is increasing recognition that these behaviors can be difficult to eradicate, which points to the importance of understanding the consequencesof cheating. Given that cheating violatesmoral norms that govern social relationships, it is critical to understand how cheating can influence social dynamics in the workplace. Drawing upon appraisal theories, we argue that cheating can have damaging consequences for individuals and their social relationships by eliciting shame. In turn, shame can reduce the extent to which individuals value receiving justice –a critical facilitator of social relationships in the workplace. We test our predictions across sixstudies using different samples and methodologies. In Study 1, we find that cheatingis negatively associated with the importance people place on others upholding justicefor them (i.e., overall justice values). In Studies 2-6, we demonstrate that shame plays a mediating role in this relationship, even in the presence of guilt and embarrassment.In Studies 3-5, we identify organizational identificationas a moderator and show that the effect of cheating on shame isstronger for those with high (versus low) identification. Theoretical implications include theimportance of identifying the outcomes of cheating for individuals within organizational contexts, understanding the functionaland dysfunctional consequences of shame, recognizing the differential effects of discrete emotions, and elucidating the role of identity within the context of cheating. We conclude with practical recommendations formanaging cheating behaviors and their outcomes in the workplace. Keywords: cheating, behavioral ethics, justice, shame, organizational identification

Relationship between Organizational Justice Dimensions and Organizational Commitment: A Mediating Mechanism of Overall Justice

The research on organizational justice (OJ) by and large focuses on OJ dimensions and their impact on employees’ attitude and behaviour. However, some researchers suggest an equal focus on the concept of overall justice. The objective of this paper is to determine the level of prevalence of OJ dimensions within private sector universities of Pakistan, and to evaluate whether overall justice mediates between OJ dimensions and OC. Kenny’s contemporary approach to mediation was used to test the mediating effect of overall justice. Our results reflect that with the exception of distributive justice, remaining three dimensions prevails within private sector universities. Similarly, there is no direct relationship between OJ dimensions and OC, rather, this relationship is best explained by incorporating overall justice in the model.

Serving to Help and Helping to Serve: Using Servant Leadership to Influence Beyond Supervisory Relationships

This study provides a new perspective on servant leadership research by examining the social influence of the servant leadership of individuals who are not in a supervisory position. Drawing on servant leadership and social learning theories, we examine how the servant leadership of managers in support roles can initiate a social learning process that shapes the leadership style of line managers and thereby influences employee outcomes throughout the organization. To facilitate the integration between servant leadership and social learning theories, we also examine the role of efficacy beliefs in enhancing the effectiveness of the social learning process. Using nested, time-lagged data from 667 store managers, 121 line managers, and 23 human resource managers (i.e., support managers), we find that support managers’ servant leadership positively influences organizational members’ perceptions of overall justice and leader-member exchange through line manager servant leadership. In turn, employees’ favorable perceptions stemming from line manager servant leadership enhance the employees’ organizational commitment and job satisfaction. The results also indicate that high leadership self-efficacy augments line managers’ effectiveness in emulating servant leadership behaviors from support managers and reinforces the indirect effects on organizational members’ favorable perceptions.