The interactive effect of Islamic work ethics and leader-member exchange on workplace deviance behaviour and adaptive performance

Purpose Drawing upon conservation of theory, this study aims to extend the scant literature on the effect of leader-member exchange (LMX) on workplace deviance behaviour (WDB) and adaptive performance by investigating the role of Islamic work ethics as moderators. Design/methodology/approach A time-lagged and multi-source data of (269 paired responses) of employees working in Islamic banks were used for hypotheses testing. Findings Taken together, the findings revealed that Leader Member Exchange (LMX) has a positive and significant impact on adaptive performance and is negatively related to employees’ WDB. The results of the moderation effect showed the positive relationship of LMX with adaptive performance and the negative relationship with WDB is stronger for high Islamic work ethics (IWE). Practical implications This study provides practical insight that Islamic business ethics plays a significant role in fostering adaptive performance and reducing the deviance behaviour of employees. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examined the moderating role of IWE between LMX-adaptive performance and LMX-WDB. This study has also filled the gap of scant literature about the impact of LMX on adaptive performance and WDB.