title: Every cloud has a silver lining: positive effects of deviant coworkers.
abstract: Drawing on the labeling perspective of deviance, we investigate employee reactions to coworkers perceived as deviants. We look at two positive effects for employees in the presence of a deviant coworker. First, in comparison to a deviant individual, other employees can draw more positive conclusions about themselves; and second, a deviant can be informative about organizational norms, thereby improving employee role clarity. We also examine individual and situational moderators. For the purpose of the study, we developed a measure of the presence of a deviant. The hypothesized relationships were tested in two large samples using multiple regression analyses. The results revealed that in the presence of a deviant coworker, employees reported enhanced self-evaluation. The presence of a deviant coworker was associated with better role clarity only for employees with more interdependent jobs. We also discuss practical implications of the findings and future research directions.
authors.affiliation: Wichita State University, W Frank Barton School of Business, Department of Management, 126 N Brookside, Wichita, KS 67208, USA. Gergana.Markova@Wichita.edu
authors.forename: Gergana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Markova
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Folger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015279:Organizational Culture; D012380:Role; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires