AUTHORITARIAN LEADERSHIP, DETERRENCE, AND DEVIANT WORKPLACE BEHAVIOUR IN NIGERIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

Deviant workplace behaviour poses a substantial risk to organisational integrity and productivity, especially in academic institutions, where unethical practices like "sex for grades" and other exploitative behaviours have raised considerable alarm. Although leadership style and disciplinary procedures are acknowledged as significant factors influencing employee behaviour, there has been scant empirical research on the interaction between authoritarian leadership and deterrent measures affecting workplace deviance in Nigerian tertiary institutions. This study utilises General Deterrence Theory (GDT) to investigate the moderating effect of deterrence, defined by the certainty, severity, and celerity of sanctions, on the relationship between authoritarian leadership and deviant workplace behaviour among academic staff in Nigerian public tertiary institutions. A cross-sectional survey approach was employed, with data gathered from academic personnel across six universities and examined using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings suggest that authoritarian leadership correlates with a decrease in deviant workplace behaviour. Moreover, the certainty and harshness of consequences enhance this link, whereas the timeliness of punishment does not significantly affect it. The findings indicate that in bureaucratic institutional settings, the perceived certainty of punishment may serve as a more potent deterrent than its immediacy. This study contributes to the literature on human resource management and organisational behaviour by synthesising leadership dynamics and deterrence theory in a unified empirical framework. It emphasises the need for reliable and regularly implemented sanction procedures and stresses the necessity for context-sensitive leadership strategies to effectively address workplace misbehaviour in higher education institutions.