The Influence of Workplace Spirituality on the Relationship between Organizational Justice, Leadership and Deviant Behaviour

MICHAEL OLALEKAN ADEOTI¹, JAMILA GANA¹ & LADAN USMAN²

¹Department of Business Administration and Management, Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Nigeria

²Department of Public Administration, Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Nigeria

E-mail: michaelolalekanadeoti@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Purpose-This paper examined the moderating influence of workplace spirituality on the relationship between organizational justice, leadership and workplace deviance. The purpose of this study is to propose a framework/model and state propositions to be tested empirically.

Design/Methodology/Approach – It is a conceptual review of the previous empirical studies on deviant workplace behaviour, organizational justice, leadership and workplace spirituality. The researchers searched for scholarly articles on the variables from Proquest direct, Science direct, and EBSCO host.

Findings-Drawing from social bonding theory and norms of reciprocity, we proposed that there is a positive correlation between organizational injustice (procedural and distributive injustices), unethical leadership behaviours and DWB. However, transformational leadership style has negative influence on deviance while transactional leadership style has positive impacts. Not minding the level of injustice and leadership styles, individual’s level of spirituality moderates his involvement in deviant workplace behaviour.

Practical Implications-Managers and HR Practitioners need to be transparent in the procedures that lead to determination of rewards (pay, bonus, allowances and recognition) and need to be guided by the principles of equity, fairness, impartiality and transparency. Secondly, leaders need to ‘live the talk’ and encourage spirituality in the workplace.

Originality/Value-The paper extends the research on deviant workplace behaviours by proposing a framework that employed workplace spirituality as a moderator. However, there is need for empirical studies to test the proposed model.

Paper Type: Review

Keywords:   Workplace Deviance, Organizational Justice, Leadership and Workplace Spirituality.