Examining Socio-Demographic Factors in Workplace Deviance among Selected University Workers

Abstract

Introduction: Despite studies on workplace deviance globally and in an emerging country like Nigeria, the role of socio-demographic factors on dimensions and overall workplace deviance have been largely neglected in the literature. This lacuna hopes to be filled by this present study through examining the role of socio-demographic factors (gender, staff category and university type) on dimensions and overall deviance among university workers in Southwest, Nigeria. Methods: The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design and a sample size of 384 university workers whose ages range from 22 to 63 years with a mean of 46.88 (SD=9.36) were conveniently selected from four universities. Data were sourced through the Workplace Deviant Behaviour scale and selected demographics which was analyzed using t-test for independent samples. Results: The results found that there was no gender difference in workplace deviance among university staff [t(382)=-0.37, p>.05]. The study also found that academic workers have a higher tendency to engage in workplace deviance than their non-academic counterparts [t(382)=2.38, p<.05]. Finally, workers from private institutions reported significantly higher workplace deviance than workers from public universities [t(382)= -2.20, p<.05]. Discussion: We can deduce from the study that gender did not have any influence on work deviance as reported by previous study. Also academic staff has higher work deviance than non-academic staff which could be as a result of academic autonomy. Also, staff from private university has higher work deviance than public university which could be as result of the poor job security of private university in Nigeria. Limitations: One limitation of the study is that some respondents might fake their responses and not disclose their true feeling about the subject matter. Conclusion: Based on these findings, we concluded that there was no gender difference on work deviance, also there was staff category difference on work deviance and finally, employee from private universities exhibited higher work deviance than their counterpart from public universities.