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

Zhenglin Zhang, Haiqing Shi and Taiwen Feng ()
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Zhenglin Zhang: School of Management, Xi’an Polytechnic University, Xi’an 710043, China
Haiqing Shi: School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Taiwen Feng: School of Economics & Management, Harbin Institute of Technology (Weihai), Weihai 264209, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: public-sphere pro-environmental behavior; private-sphere pro-environmental behavior; workplace deviance; psychological entitlement; rationalization of workplace deviance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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