Assessing the impact of corporate environmental irresponsibility on workplace deviant behavior of generation Z and millennials: a multigroup analysis

Purpose - Drawing on expectancy violation theory, this study aims to assess the impact of corporate environmental irresponsibility (CEI) on workplace deviant behaviors (WDB) of Generation Z and Millennials through the mediation of moral outrage. Design/methodology/approach - The data were collected from 328 nonmanagerial employees working in the refinery, petroleum and power distribution companies who have been convicted for committing environmental irresponsibility by a court of law. Multigroup analysis (MGA) was used to estimate the hypothesized relationships. Findings - Results revealed that CEI affects WDBs positively. Moreover, the MGA results demonstrated that the deviant behavior of Generation Z in response to environmental irresponsibility is higher than of the Millennials. Research limitations/implications - Theoretically, the findings implicate that harming the environment will cost organizational performance through deviant behaviors. Practical implications - This study provides a new lens for the executive management that eliminating social irresponsibility is more important than incurring sustainability initiatives, especially from the new generation’s perspective. Originality/value - The originality of this study is that it confirmed the impact of CEI on employees’ deviant behaviors; and extended the scope of expectancy violation theory to the field of human resources.