Abstract:
Deviant behaviours are considered a growing problem and prevalent in most countries across the world, with an estimate of 95% of employees engaging in deviant behaviours. Work-family conflict is considered a potent antecedent of workplace deviance. This study, drawn from the Job-Demands Resource model, sought to examine the relationship between work-family conflict and deviant behaviours at the workplace, and the role played by emotional exhaustion (mediator) and job embeddedness (moderator).
The two-wave panel longitudinal research design was adopted for the study. Cross-sectional analyses were conducted for each time (Time 1 and Time 2), as well as longitudinal analyses with the data obtained from 301 bank employees in each of two rounds of data, collected from public and private banks. Hierarchical regression (for moderation) in SPSS and bootstrapping approach (for mediation) in AMOS were used for analyses.
The study found positive associations between both forms of work-family conflict and each form of workplace deviance. Emotional exhaustion fully mediated the relationship between work-to-family conflict and interpersonal and organisational deviance. Longitudinally, emotional exhaustion partially mediated the relationship between work-to-family conflict and both interpersonal and organisational deviance. Another finding was that job embeddedness had a negative relationship with both interpersonal and organisational deviance. Again, job embeddedness enhanced the impact of family-to-work conflict on interpersonal deviance.
Practical implications are that banks must pay particular attention to the job demands imposed on employees and as well take interest in staff’s out-of-job experiences that have potential of enhancing deviant behaviours. The study provides empirical evidence that work-family conflict is associated with deviant behaviours, and that emotional exhaustion is an important mechanism through which work-family conflict impacts workplace deviance. Methodologically, this study contributes to the limited studies of longitudinal approach to the study of work-family conflict and workplace deviance, and shows that the mechanism through which work-family conflict leads to workplace deviance is better explained through longitudinal design; it as well provides useful guide in the coding of questionnaires in order to match responses for panel data.
