A salesperson is always required to be professional, competitive, hardworking and resistant to the pressure of sales targets. Moreover, salesperson is also the company’s frontrunner to interact with customers. In connection with the scope of this work, the company then provides supporting facilities in the form of transportation allowances (eg vehicles and fuel), telecommunications allowances (eg telephone and internet), and other facilities deemed necessary to support the work of salesperson.
On the other hand, the results of research conducted by Sales & Marketing Management Equation showed a surprising phenomenon about salesperson behavior. According to the article, 60 percent of salespersons were alleged to have manipulated their sales expense. Not only that, 47 percent of salespersons were also suspected of lying when they made phone calls. In fact, Gallup, a global consulting agency, ranked salesperson first for the most unethical professional work.
This misbehavior known in the academic world as a deviant workplace behavior (DWB). DWB is employee behavior that is considered to violate organizational norms and regulations that can affect the welfare of the organization and its members. The potential loss arising from deviant behavior indicating that the behavior must be minimized. One of the ways include knowing the causing factors. One factor that is believed to influence deviant behavior in the workplace is organizational justice .
Organizational justice is important because justice is a strong determinant of one’s behavior in the organization. It means, the existence of deviant behavior could be the result of a low perception of justice in the organization. It is undeniable, employees in general will compare the benefits obtained with the sacrifice that has been given to the company. In other words, employees also expect that the rewards they receive are proportional to the rewards received by other employees.
Furthermore, if the employee feels that the reward given is fair, the employee will be satisfied with it. This satisfaction will then motivate employees to improve their performance. Research related to rewards refers to the concept commonly known as distributive justice. If employees perceive distributive justice in the organization, employees tend to give positive reactions such as satisfaction and commitment. Conversely, injustice in the distribution of rewards from the organization will encourage employees to take deviant actions, such as the act of damaging equipment or work processes, taking equipment without permission and so on.
In connecting organizational injustice perceived by employees with distorted work behavior, there is the term moral disengagemen. Based on social-cognitive theory, human behavior is controlled by thoughts that are influenced by the process of self-regulation and the social environment in which individuals are located. Self-regulation is the tendency of individuals to accept existing norms and regulations as considerations in shaping their behavior. According to social-cognitive theory, someone with a good self-regulation system tends to do things based on internal moral standards. This standard leads to good behavior because individuals use their personal standards to anticipate, monitor and assess their own actions. In other words, self-regulation can be understood as individual compliance with existing rules.
Self compliance with regulations, or self-regulation can be activated as desired. Moral release is one’s desire to deactivate self-compliance with regulations so that one does not want to behave well and tends to behave immorally. Through moral disengagement , individuals free themselves from the guilt that occurs when their behavior violates the rules, and finally they make immoral decisions. So, moral disengagement in this study is a person’s obedience in a regulation that is not active, so that the individual acts unethically with the support of cognitive, affective and environmental aspects he feels.
Can perceptions of justice in the organization really make a salesperson take a deviant action? And how is the connection between moral disengagement and deviant workplace behavior with the phenomenon that occurs in salespersons?
The answer to that question is YES. It has been confirmed in research conducted on 312 salesperson of consumer goods distribution companies in Surabaya. The findings of this study showed the presence of injustice felt by salesperson proven to significantly influence deviant work behavior, and the existence of moral disengagement in salesperson can also mediate the effect of perceptions of injustice in the organization on partial deviant behavior at work.
The results of this finding indicate that companies must provide salesperson with a perception of fairness in terms of compensation and work procedures because they will also have an impact on their behavior, the more salespersons feel they are treated fairly, the less potential they have to take actions that are detrimental to the company.
Author: Nidya Ayu Arina Detailed information from this research can be seen at: https://www.ijicc.net/images/Vol11Iss11/111145_Arina_2020_E_R.pdf
Arina, Nidya Ayu, Aldila Dwi Jayanti, Praptini Yulianti, Luky Bagas Prakoso ,. 2020. An Effort to Mitigate Deviant Behavior in the Workplace: Does Justice Matter ?. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. Volume 11, Issue 11, 2020
