Cutting corner at work? Understanding why and when illegitimate tasks fuel service employees' expediency

Purpose Employees' covert and unethical expediency at work is detrimental to the sustainable performance development of service industries. However, the limited understanding of the antecedents of employee expediency complicates efforts to develop effective coping approaches. Leveraging cognitive appraisal theory of emotion, this study aims to examine how illegitimate tasks fuel service employees' unethical expedient behaviors through the mediating role of workplace anxiety and the moderating role of polychronicity. Design/methodology/approach We conducted a scenario-based experiment of 232 full-time employees in service organizations and a time-lagged field study of 223 frontline service employees. Hierarchical regression analyses were employed for data analysis. Findings Service employees undertaking more illegitimate tasks experience greater workplace anxiety, which serves as an emotional catalyst for expedient behaviors. Moreover, polychronicity weakens the effect of illegitimate tasks on workplace anxiety as well as the indirect effect of illegitimate tasks on employee expediency via workplace anxiety. Originality/value Given the prevalence of illegitimate tasks in service organizations, our study underscores the detriments of illegitimate tasks and advance the growing literature in employee expediency.