Negative affectivity and workplace deviance: the moderating role of ethical climate

Abstract

This study investigates (1) the relationship between employees’ trait of negative affectivity (NA) and workplace deviance and (2) the moderating role of ethical climate in the above relationship. Data was collected from 310 employees in 40 Taiwanese companies, and hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Results show that NA was positively related to workplace deviance. In addition, the rules climate weakened the relationship between NA and workplace deviance, and both the instrumental climate and the caring climate strengthened the relationship between NA and workplace deviance. Managerial implications and future research directions are also discussed.

Keywords::

• ethical climate
• hierarchical linear modeling (HLM)
• negative affectivity
• Taiwanese companies
• workplace deviance