The combined effect of perceived organizational injustice and perceived politics on deviant behaviors

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to examine the catalytic impact of perceptions of politics in organizations on the relationship between perceived unfairness and deviant behavior at work. Design/methodology/approach: To test the proposed research model, the authors collected field data in a public sector university located in Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan. A two-wave questionnaire was distributed to 400 employees. In the first wave, the questionnaire was used to collect data on participants’ perceptions of perceived injustice and organizational politics. After two weeks, the second wave of data collection was conducted by sending another questionnaire to the same respondents to collect data on their organizational and interpersonal deviance. Findings: Empirical findings revealed that perceived interactional injustice results in interpersonal deviance, and perceived distributive and procedural injustice results in organizational deviance. Moreover, the direct relationship between perceived injustice and deviant behaviors was stronger when the perception of politics factor was high. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to test the detrimental effect of perception of politics on deviance in a public organization in Pakistan.