Fear in organizations : Does intimidation by formal punishment mediate the relationship between interactional justice and workplace internet deviance?

Purpose – This study examines the relationship between interactional justice, which is a specific type of organizational justice perception that reflects how a person is treated by an authority, and workplace internet deviance (or Cyberloafing) as a category of deviant workplace behavior. The tested model suggests that interactional justice affects cyberloafing by influencing fear of formal punishment –as an intimidation construct– which, in turn, prompts employees to reciprocate with deviant workplace internet behaviors. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 147 (19.4 percent) of the 758 non‐teaching staff at a Spanish public university. Accessibility of individual e‐mail accounts was similar for all employees. E‐mails asking for collaboration were sent in two phases. A questionnaire was posted on the university Intranet and could be accessed by clicking on a link in the e‐mails. Findings – Structural equation modeling results support that interactional justice is an antecedent of fear of formal punishment that fully mediates the relationship between interactional justice and workplace internet deviance. Research limitations/implications – The researched employees have job conditions inherent to the peculiarities of the public sector which may limit the ability to extrapolate the findings in the private sector. The fear construct was assessed by a self‐supplied scale, and thus the presence of shades of other similar emotions could not be discounted. Findings provide a more understandable mechanism of the influence of supervisor disrespect on cyberloafing. Practical implications – These findings contribute to an understanding of the ways in which organizations can control cyberloafing and provide reservations about the intimidator strategy efficiency. Originality/value – The use of fear of punishment as a mediator on this link is unprecedented.