How Ethical Ideology Exacerbates the Relationship Between Machiavellianism and Workplace Deviance

Abstract

Workplace deviance is an alarming phenomenon that causes immense loss in many organizations. Among many factors, Machiavellianism, a personality variable often identified by amoral and manipulative acts leads to deviance of an employee. The present paper assumes that Machiavellianism will be positively related to employee’s interpersonal and organizational deviance. We also hypothesized that ethical ideology will moderate the relationship of Machiavellianism towards employee’s interpersonal and organizational deviance. Authors verified the formulated hypotheses by using 256 data collected from mid-level managerial employees working in IT and software companies based in Delhi (India). Data analyses were carried out through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and moderated regression analysis. Results reveal significant and positive contribution of Machiavellianism towards employee’s workplace deviance. Ethical ideology significantly moderates the relationship between Machiavellianism and employee’s interpersonal and organizational deviance. Results and implications of the study are discussed.

Keywords

• machiavellianism
• ethical ideology
• workplace deviance
• deviant behavior