Sabotage in the workplace: The role of organizational injustice

    Authors

    M. L. Ambrose; M. A. Seabright;M. Schminke

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process.

    Keywords

    UNDERPAYMENT INEQUITY; POTENTIAL CAUSES; EMPLOYEE THEFT; AGGRESSION; JUSTICE; FRUSTRATION; FRAMEWORK; VIOLENCE; BEHAVIOR; FORMS; Psychology, Applied; Management; Psychology, Social

    Abstract

    This study examines the relationship between injustice and workplace sabotage. Drawing on the organizational justice and workplace deviance literatures, we hypothesize that injustice will be the most common cause of sabotage, and that the source of injustice will influence the goal, target, and severity of sabotage behavior. The results generally support our hypotheses. First, injustice was the most common cause of sabotage. Second, when the source of injustice was interactional, individuals were more likely to engage in retaliation, and when the source of injustice was distributive, individuals were more likely to engage in equity restoration. Third, the source of injustice and the target of sabotage were generally the same, although this relationship was stronger for organizational targets than for individual targets. Finally, there was an additive effect of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice on the severity of sabotage. We discuss the implications of these results for future research on sabotage and deviant workplace behavior. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

    Volume

    89

    Issue/Number

    1

    Publication Date

    1-1-2002

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    947

    Last Page

    965

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000178237700008

    ISSN

    0749-5978

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