Employee deviance: the impacts of techno-insecurity and moral disengagement

Abstract

Purpose

Employees may see technostress, that is, the stress experienced by individuals as a result of the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), as a threat to their jobs. In other words, employees may have a strong sense of job insecurity because of the ICT. This study aims to examine why and when employees might respond to technology-induced job insecurity (techno-insecurity) by engaging in workplace deviance – an activity that is costly for organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors apply partial least squares structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses, using a sample of 354 valid responses.

Findings

The authors found that job-related technostress creators and technology-related technostress creators are positively associated with techno-insecurity. Techno-insecurity affects deviant behavior by increasing employees' moral disengagement. The authors also found that informal sanctions moderated the relationship between techno-insecurity and moral disengagement, while formal sanctions moderated the relationship between moral disengagement and deviance.

Originality/value

This study contributes to a better understanding of employee techno-insecurity and deviance by expanding the technostress literature and applying moral disengagement theory.

Citation

Chiu, C.-M., Tan, C.M., Hsu, J.S.-C. and Cheng, H.-L. (2023), "Employee deviance: the impacts of techno-insecurity and moral disengagement", Information Technology & People, Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 140-164. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-03-2021-0198