Presentation Schedule
How and When Organization-Based Self-Esteem Leads to Workplace Deviance (101958)
Tuesday, 24 March 2026 16:00
Session: Poster Session 3
Room: Orion Hall (5F)
Presentation Type: Poster Presentation
The general picture in the organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) literature is that OBSE (i.e., the self-perceived value that individuals have of themselves as organization members acting within an organizational context; Pierce, Gardner, Cummings, & Dunham, 1989) has almost exclusively positive effects on both employees and organizations. We challenge the prevailing belief and argue that OBSE may also have potential drawbacks. Drawing from moral licensing theory, we theorize that high-OBSE employees can develop perceptions of psychological entitlement (i.e., a pervasive sense that one deserves more and is entitled to more than others; Campbell, Bonacci, Shelton, Exline, & Bushman, 2004), which in turn can lead them to engage in deviant behaviors (including both interpersonal and organizational deviances). Moral licensing theory suggests that people who performed good deeds in the past can license future evil deeds (Miller & Effron, 2010). Nevertheless, people sometimes feel morally justified and, therefore entitled to display socially undesirable behaviors without engaging in morally praiseworthy behaviors. We also examine employees’ independent self-construal (i.e., individuals are more inclined to think in terms of the singular me instead of the plural we; Singelis, 1994) as a moderator of this process. Results from a three-wave survey study (i.e., three-time points with one month in between) of 258 employees from various industries supported our predictions that high-OBSE employees display workplace deviance by creating a sense of psychological entitlement. Furthermore, we find that independent self-construal serves as a first-stage moderator, such that the mediated relationships are stronger when independent self-construal is high instead of low.
Authors:
Shin-Guang Liang, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan
About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Shin-Guang Liang is currently an Assistant Professor at College of Management, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan.
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