When and Why Does Workplace Deviance Lead to Reparative Behaviors? A Moral Cleansing Perspective

Research has mainly illustrated that workplace deviance leads to deleterious outcomes for the organization and its members. However, it is not clear what drives employees to engage in workplace deviance and if this drive lets workplace deviance have the same negative effects as an ordinary one. In this research, we draw upon the moral cleansing theory to posit that employees may engage in workplace deviance due to the critical contextual factor of deviant peer pressure and reveal the results of such a case. We propose that when deviant peer pressure is low, employees will experience a sense of guilt after perpetrating workplace deviance, thereby inducing their helping behaviors. Simultaneously, employees who conduct workplace deviance would also perceive the loss of moral credits, motivating them to decrease their prior workplace deviance. The results of an experiment and a multi-source field study support our hypotheses. Our research findings provide a novel insight into why employees conduct workplace deviance and uncover the critical role of deviant peer pressure plays in the employees’ responses to their workplace deviance. Finally, we discuss the implications for theory and practice.