Workplace deviance, emotional state and reparative behaviors: task visibility as a boundary condition in a mediated moderation model

Purpose Grounding upon moral cleansing and self-completion theories, this paper examines how workplace deviant behavior motivates employees to engage in subsequent compensatory actions—organizational citizenship behavior and prosocial behavior—triggered by the state of moral emotion – guilt. The article also explores and tests the role of task characteristics—task visibility—as a boundary condition in the guilt-mediated relationship between deviant employee behavior and compensatory behaviors. Design/methodology/approach A survey study on 396 full-time employees working for organizations operating in various industries is conducted to test the hypothesized mediated moderation model empirically. The authors conducted a structural equation modeling to provide empirical evidence for the proposed hypotheses. Findings Offering both theoretical and practical implications, the findings of the study revealed that a deviance-triggered state of guilt encourages subsequent reparative actions, such as organizational citizenship behavior and prosocial behaviors. The results also showed that the level of task visibility had a significant role as a boundary condition in the relationships between workplace deviant behavior and reparative behaviors. Originality/value Unlike previous research, which mainly found a negative connection between harming actions (i.e. deviant behavior) and helping behaviors (i.e. citizenship and prosocial behavior), this paper investigated and found how the state of guilt could be a mediator to link workplace deviant behavior to organizational citizenship behavior and prosocial behavior through moral cleansing and self-completion processes.