A Person-Centered Approach to Behaving Badly at Work: An Examination of Workplace Deviance Patterns

Bailey Bigelow, Jason Kautz, Nichelle C. Carpenter, T. Brad Harris

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

To investigate research questions surrounding workplace deviance, scholars have primarily applied variable-centered approaches, such as overall deviance measures or those that separate interpersonal deviance and organizational deviance. These approaches, however, ignore that individuals might employ more complex combinations of deviance behaviors that do not fit neatly within the existing variable frameworks. The present study explores whether person-centered deviance classes emerge in a comprehensive database of the prior studies. We then investigated whether these classes showed differences in antecedents and correlates in an independent sample of working adults from multiple industries. In Study 1, a multilevel latent class analysis of 20 independent samples and 6,218 individuals revealed five classes of workplace deviance, thus providing preliminary support for a person-centered approach. In Study 2, a time-lagged sample of 553 individuals showed the emergence of five classes that largely reflected the patterns found in Study 1. Study 2 points to meaningful differences between classes of deviance behaviors and antecedents, including abusive supervision, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, and psychological entitlement; classes are also uniquely associated with correlates such as organizational citizenship behaviors, turnover intentions, job performance, and job satisfaction. Altogether, this work is an important first step toward understanding workplace deviance with a person-centered lens.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)1742-1764
Number of pages23
JournalJournal of Applied Psychology
Volume109
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - May 30 2024
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Applied Psychology

Keywords

  • counterproductive workplace behavior
  • latent class analysis
  • meta-analysis
  • person-centered approach
  • workplace deviance

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