JOB STANDARDIZATION AND DEVIANT WORKPLACE BEHAVIOR

Abstract

Facing fiercely competitive global environments, organizations use widespread mass production of goods and services for lower cost and larger market shares for survival and growth. Thus, a job design and characteristic of standardization has long been adopted and recognized to be essential for the competitiveness of organizations by sustaining output consistency, effectiveness and efficiency. However, Keeley (1988) maintained that organizations have a fundamental tension between the goal of efficiency and the goal of morality and struggle for a delicate balance between these competing objectives. This tension elicits the question whether job standardization relates to deviant workplace behavior (DWB), which is immoral, pervasive in the workplace and harmful to organizational competitiveness. Using conservation of resources theory as an underlying explanation, this study developed an interesting theoretical model that specified how and why job standardization enhances DWB directed at the organization (DWB-O) and attenuates DWB directed at organizational members/individuals (DWB-I). Three-wave panel survey data were collected from 283 employees with various occupations. Empirical results found job standardization evokes employee boredom, which, in turn, translates into increased DWB-O and decreased DWB-I, suggesting employees’ concern for workplace relationships. With job design of standardization, organizations can use the influence of coworkers to stifle DWB-O. This study extends and shifts the understanding of job standardization consequences from the side of employee positive behavior to the side of negative behavior. DWB literature on situational antecedents, focusing on the organizational systems/social context and theory, is enriched by invoking a job perspective of standardization and resource theory.