Research on the Relationship Between Managerial Pro-Social Rule Breaking and Employees’ Workplace Deviant Behavior from the Broken Windows Effect Perspective

In enterprises, managers often intentionally break the rules out of altruistic motives, which is called managerial pro-social rule breaking (MPSRB). Most studies have focused on its positive consequences, while its potential dark side is neglected and lacks exploration. To bridge this gap, based on the broken windows theory, this study tries to investigate the mechanism and boundary of MPSRB's influence on employees' workplace deviance, introducing organizational anomie as a mediating variable and normative conflict as a moderating variable. An experiment study and a time-lagged questionnaire survey were conducted in mainland China. The results revealed the following: MPSRB had a positive impact on the perceived organizational anomie of employees; organizational anomie mediated the influence of MPSRB on employees' workplace deviance; normative conflict moderated the influence of MPSRB on organizational anomie; normative conflict negatively moderated the indirect effect of organizational anomie. This study provides a new perspective on the mechanism and boundary of the negative consequences of MPSRB and provides practical implications for enterprises to reduce the employees' deviance caused by MPSRB.