Does Organizational Justice Moderates the Nexus between Economic Pressure and Employees’ Deviant Behaviour?

Abstract

Employees that experience economic pressure or economic hardship may be tempted to indulge in deviant behaviours at the workplace. However, the condition under which the impact of economic pressure on deviant behaviour at workplace could be curtailed or minimized remains unclear. Thus, this study examines the moderating effect of organizational justice on the positive correlation between economic pressure and employee deviant behaviour. Drawing on previous studies and the tenets of social exchange/reciprocity theory, this study argues that organizational justice has the potential to moderate the impact of economic pressure on employee deviant behaviours. Utilizing a sample of 550 employees through simple random sampling and self-administered survey for this study, 356 participants from federal institutions of higher learning in Zamfara State fully participated in the survey. Results from a variance-based structural equation modelling (PLS 4.9.2) analysis reveal that organizational justice significantly moderate the relationship between economic pressure and deviant behaviour. In other words, the presence of organizational justice weakens the positive link between economic pressure and deviant behaviour. This research contributes to the literature on organizational justice by providing much deeper insights of its role in moderating relationship between economic pressure and deviant behaviour. The implications of this finding for management of institutions of higher learning and future research directions are provided.