Role stressors and employee deviance: the moderating effect of social support
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-11-2012-0191 |
| Pages | 308-324 |
| Published date | 02 March 2015 |
| Date | 02 March 2015 |
| Author | Su-Fen Chiu,Shih-Pin Yeh,Tun Chun Huang |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Role stressors and employee
deviance: the moderating effect
of social support
Su-Fen Chiu and Shih-Pin Yeh
Department of Business Administration,
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, and
Tun Chun Huang
Graduate Institute of Human Resource Management,
National Changhua University of Education, Changhua, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among role stressors, social
support, and employee deviance. Specifically, this study explores the relationships of role stressors
(i.e. role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload) to interpersonal and organisational employee
deviance. Furthermore, this study examines the moderating role of social support (from supervisors
and coworkers) on the above relationships.
Design/methodology/approach –Data were collected from 326 paired samples of sales and
customer service employees as well as their immediate supervisors in Taiwan.
Findings –Role conflict had a positive relationship with both organisational and interpersonal
deviance. Role ambiguity was positively, while role overload was negatively related to
organisational deviance, respectively. Role ambiguity was more strongly related to organisational
than to interpersonal deviance. Coworker support had a significant moderating effect on the role
overload –interpersonal deviance relationship.
Practical implications –Organisations may implement policies and programs, such as clarification
of job responsibility, provision of performance feedback and training in stress coping techniques,
to lessen the negative effect of role conflict, and role ambiguity on employee deviance.
Originality/value –This study contributes to the literature in several ways. First, this study extends
prior research on stressor-performance relationship by investigating the effect of role stressors on two
forms of employee deviance (interpersonal deviance and organisational deviance) in a collectivist
cultural context (i.e. Taiwan). Second, this study demonstrates that work-related characteristics
(e.g. role stressors) have different degrees of effect on interpersonal and organisational deviance.
Third, this research offers explanations on why there is little support for the moderating effect of social
support on the stressor-deviance relationship.
Keywords Role stress, Social support, Quantitative, Employee deviance
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In a modern competitive working environment, many employees experience job stress.
Job stress can be defined as, “any characteristic of the job environment which poses
a threat to the individual”(Caplan et al., 1975). In the research on the effect of job stress
on employees, role stressors (i.e. role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload) are the
most commonly studied (e.g. Bruk-Lee and Spector, 2006; Eatough et al., 2011; Jackson
and Schuler, 1985).
To date, a great deal of research has explored the relationship between role stressors
and job performance; however, much of the focus has been on the role stressors task
performance relationship (e.g. Beehr et al., 2000; Gilboa et al., 2008; Jackson and Schuler,
1985; Jex, 1998). In recent years, scholars have increasingly paid attention to the
Personnel Review
Vol. 44 No. 2, 2015
pp. 308-324
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-11-2012-0191
Received 2 November 2012
Revised 28 July 2013
11 January 2014
Accepted 14 June 2014
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
308
PR
44,2
relationship between role stressors and another facet of job performance, that is,
organisational citizenship behaviour (e.g. Eatough et al., 2011). Less focus has been
given on the effect of role stressors on the third facet of job performance, that is,
employee deviant behaviour (Bowling and Eschleman, 2010; Chen and Spector, 1992;
Penney and Spector, 2005). Employee deviant behaviour (or employee deviance) can be
defined as a “voluntary behaviour that violates significant organisational norms and in
so doing threatens the well-being of an organisation, its members, or both”(Robinson
and Bennett, 1995, p. 556). Examples of employee deviant behaviours include production
deviance, sabotaging equipment, gossiping about coworkers, and interpersonal
aggression. Research has demonstrated that employee deviance leads to negative
effects on individual employee and organisational performance, bringing enormous
losses to organisations (Bennett and Robinson, 2000). An investigation of the antecedents
of employee deviance, especially work-related characteristics (e.g. role stressors), can be
beneficial to organisations, particularly in their ways to adopting preventative policies
and practices that would decrease employee deviance. Such policies would in turn
reduce organisational costs and enhance organisational effectiveness.
Moreover, studies on the role stressor –employee deviance relationship mostly
derive their findings based on research settings from individualistic cultural samples,
such as the USA (e.g. Bowling and Eschleman, 2010; Penney and Spector, 2005).
Scant research on the effects of role stressors on employee negative behaviour
(e.g. sabotage, theft) has been conducted in nations with collectivistic cultures, such as
China and Taiwan (Siu et al., 1999; Yang et al., 2008). Therefore, the current study aims
to investigate the relationship between role stressors and employee deviance in Taiwan
that is culturally distinct from individualistic cultural nations (e.g. the USA). By doing
so, we expect our study results may shed light on cross-cultural diversity and compatibility
of the stressor –employee deviance relationship.
In addition, employee deviance can be classified into interpersonal and
organisational deviance (Robinson and Bennett, 1995). As suggested by Robinson
and Bennett (1995) and Berry et al. (2007), these forms of employee deviance may differ
from each other in terms of their antecedents. To adopt effective preventive policies or
strategies for organisations to decrease different forms of employee deviance,
examining whether work-related characteristics (e.g. role stressors) have different
degrees of effect on interpersonal and organisational deviance is necessary. In the
current work, we intend to investigate the relative effects of role stressors on the two
different forms of employee deviance.
Finally, previous studies have demonstrated a weak or inconsistent relationship
between role stressors and job performance (Gilboa et al., 2008; Jackson and Schuler,
1985; LePine et al., 2005), suggesting that the presence of moderating variables can be
a possible explanation. Colbert et al. (2004) proposed an investigation of the interactive
effects of individual and situational factors on employee deviance. Empirical rese arch
has also begun to investigate the personality boundary conditions (e.g. agreeableness,
conscientiousness, and negative affectivity) of the relationship between role stressors
and employee deviance (e.g. Bowling and Eschleman, 2010; Penney and Spector, 2005).
In the current study, based on Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory, we portray
social support as a key social resource (Halbesleben, 2006; Hobfoll, 2001, 2002).
Accordingly, we propose to investigate the moderating effect of social support on
lessening role stressors-employee deviance relationship. This proposed investigation is
also based on the fact that past research evidence has suggested a moderating
(i.e. lessening or increasing) role of social support on the relationship between job
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Role stressors
and employee
deviance
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