Identifying Deviant Employee Behaviors in the Governor's Office of Golestan Province and Coping Strategies to Present a Model

Abstract

The present study was conducted with the aim of identifying deviant employee behaviors in the Governor's Office of Golestan Province and proposing coping strategies to design an applicable model. This research is applied in terms of its objective and was conducted using a mixed-methods approach (qualitative and quantitative) with an exploratory design. In the qualitative section, the grounded theory method was employed, while in the quantitative section, a survey method was used. The qualitative research population included 23 individuals working in the headquarters of the governorate (security, inspection, complaints handling units, and the administrative violations board), as well as in the security and performance evaluation units of county-level governorates. The quantitative population consisted of all employees of the Governor’s Office of Golestan Province. Sampling was conducted purposively in the qualitative phase and stratified randomly in the quantitative phase. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews in the qualitative section and via a questionnaire in the quantitative section. The qualitative data were analyzed through three stages: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. In the coding stage, from a total of 532 initial codes, 410 final codes were extracted, which included causal factors (discriminatory behaviors, lack of spirituality, abnormal behaviors, greed, organizational injustice, organizational politics, violation of meritocracy, organizational misbehavior, work-related stress, bullying and Machiavellian behavior of managers, weak organizational structure, role ambiguity and conflict, and deficiencies in the employee compensation system); the core category (concepts of financial deviation, political deviation, personal deviation, service deviation, and organizational deviation); contextual factors (politicization, ethical challenges, barriers to meritocracy); intervening factors (psychological pressure, managerial incompetence, external interventions); and consequences (employee isolation and passivity, workplace indiscipline, job apathy, neglect of career development, decreased organizational productivity, managerial inefficiency, organizational dysfunction, financial and material inequality, erosion of public trust, and weakened social capital). In the quantitative section, the extracted model was validated using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique. Model reliability was confirmed using Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability, and validity indices. Descriptive analyses included mean, median, and charts, while inferential analyses comprised factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The findings indicated that deviant employee behaviors are influenced by various organizational, managerial, and structural factors. Furthermore, strategies such as policy reform, motivation enhancement, conflict management, and improvement of the performance evaluation system were identified as effective solutions. The final model was presented as a framework for reducing deviant behaviors and enhancing organizational performance.