Navigating the Shadow Side of Innovation: The Contingent Effect of Personality on the Relationship between Organizational Justice and Employee Deviance in the IT Sector
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Abstract
This study examines the contingent effect of personality on the relationship between organizational justice and employee deviance within the high-pressure IT sector. Grounded in Social Exchange Theory and the Trait Activation Perspective, the research posits that perceptions of fairness are a key determinant of workplace behavior, but individual reactions are shaped by psychological dispositions. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional design with data from 318 IT professionals, the analysis confirms that organizational justice across distributive, procedural, and interactional dimensions has a significant negative relationship with employee deviance. Crucially, personality traits act as vital moderators:conscientiousness and agreeableness weaken the negative impact of low justice, buffering against deviance, while neuroticism significantly strengthens it, amplifying deviant reactions. The findings underscore that mitigating counterproductive work behaviors in innovation-driven environments requires a dual focus on fostering robust organizational justice systems and understanding employee personality profiles to tailor effective managerial interventions.