Understanding Employees’ Deviant Behavior

Background/Objectives: This study aims to examine the influence of organizational constraints and employees’ emotional intelligence on deviant behavior and to investigate whether an ethical climate mitigates deviant behavior. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Based on the literature review, this empirical study develops 3 hypotheses and uses a survey and statistical analysis, including simple linear regressions and hierarchical moderated regressions, to test the hypotheses. The total number of samples included 447 Korean workers. Findings: This study found a positive association between organizational constraints and deviant behavior and a negative association between emotional intelligence and deviant behavior. The last finding of this study is that an ethical climate mitigates employees’ deviant behavior. The results of this study help organizations better understand their employees’ negative behavior and how to manage such behavior in the organization. Improvements/Applications: This study is significant in that it investigates, in the same study, both individual-level (emotional intelligence and organizational level (organizational constraints) factors that influence employees’deviant behavior.