ETHICAL CLIMATE, JOB PRESSURE, AND COUNTERPRODUCTIVE WORK BEHAVIOUR AMONG FACULTY MEMBERS: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF NEUTRALIZATION

¹Michael Olalekan Adeoti, ¹Emmanuel Adesola Oluremi,¹Azubuike Aham Samuel &²Kabiru Maitama Kura

¹Department of Business Administration and Management

Federal Polytechnic Bida, Niger State, Nigeria

²UTB School of Business

Universityof Teknologi Brunei, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE1410

Brunei Darussalam

ABSTRACT

Extant research linking ethical climate and job pressure to counterproductive work behaviour have consistently yielded significant results. However, the psychological mechanism that underlies the relationships between ethical climate, job pressure and counterproductive work behaviour remains unclear. We addressed this knowledge gap by examining the mediating role of neutralization in the relationships between ethical climate, job pressure and counterproductive work behaviour. The proposed model was tested by applying variance-based structural equation modeling to data collected from 356 academic faculty members of two ethnically diverse public universities in Nigeria. As expected, the results showed that both ethical climate and job pressure were significant predictors of counterproductive work behaviour. Additionally, the results established that the relationships between ethical climate and counterproductive work behaviour is mediated by neutralization. In the same vein, the results showed that job pressure triggers neutralization, which in turn, predicts counterproductive work behaviour.

Keywords: Ethical climate, job pressure, counterproductive work behaviour, neutralization