Examining Employee Social Media Deviance: A Psychological Contract Breach Perspective

With the prevalence of social media, employees’ deviant behaviors on social media can go viral and result in unpredictable negative outcomes beyond the workplace. This paper investigates the relationship between abusive supervision and employee social media deviance from the theoretical perspective of psychological contract breach (PCB), and examine the moderating role of social media controls. Building on prior studies of abusive supervision and employee workplace deviance, this paper argues that abusive supervision plays a crucial motivational role in triggering employee social media deviance. Our results demonstrate that employees who experience abusive supervision are more likely to perceive PCB, and thus engage in social media deviance. User awareness of social media policy and informal sanctions can weaken the positive relationship between employee perceived PCB and social media deviance.