Employee Behavior

Employee behavior

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Employee behavior

Introduction

Typically, corporate or personal culture affects the way employees interact or communicate with each other and with the management (Kinley & Ben-Hur, 2015). The beliefs of employees affect their sense of ethical responsibility and ethics. Therefore, employee’s behaviors vary from one employee to another. The term employee behavior can be defined as the way employee’s in any given organization reacts to specific situations or circumstances in their workplace environment (Olson & Zanna, 1993). While there are various aspects that shape an employee’s behavior in an organization, organizational culture, and their culture is the most prevalent element that defines an individual’s behavior.

Key theories and findings of employee behavior research

The issue of employee behavior has attracted different ideologies from various scholars in examining why employees behave the way they behave. Some scholars have come up with theories that explain employee behavior. The theories are based on the findings of the researches they conducted.

The theory of planned behavior proposed by Icek Ajzen explains people behavior by linking beliefs and behaviors. The theory is an enhancement of the reasoned action theory. In his research, he included the supposed behavioral control. This theory is widely used in the business field including advertising campaigns, public relations, and marketing in organizations. It studies relations between behaviors, attitudes and beliefs. Icek believes that intentions and behaviors of a person are primarily shaped by subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and attitudes towards behaviors. His primary intention of developing the theory was to explain behaviors on which employees can exert their control. Behavior intentions are influenced by the attitude on the possibility of behavior causing the expected results by examining its risks and benefits (Olson & Zanna, 1993). According to the theory of planned behavior, a behavioral achievement is pegged on the ability to control behavior, intention or motivation. There are three main categories of beliefs in this theory; normative beliefs, behavioral and control (McNeely & Meglino, 1994). Moreover, the theory outlines six construct; subjective norms, attitudes, social norms, behavioral intention, behavioral control and perceived power that represent control over behavior by a person.

The theory, however, has some limitations. It assumes that employees have acquired their opportunities and resources that they need to excel in performing desired behaviors not minding their intentions. It does also look at other variables that can influence behavioral intention such as experience, fear, threat, the mood of individual, environmental and economic factors that can influence employee behavior (Ajzen, 2011).

Another theory that explains why employees behave the way they do is the behavioral management theory. It relies on the perception that leaders or managers will understand the employee behavior aspect and treat them as essential assets to achieve objectives and goals (MacKenzie, Podsakoff & Fetter, 1991). It looks into how employers create a good working environment to increase their productivity. Several theorists such as Elton Mayo conducted studies on employee productivity under various working conditions to determine their reactive behaviors.