Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Self-perceived misattributed culpability or incompetence at work

Asian Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Cite this article

Abstract

Employees with self-perceived misattributed culpability or incompetence (SMCI) are on the receiving end of complaints, reprimands, or accusations which, from their perspective, incorrectly assume that that they have fallen short of required standards or outcomes. We analyzed an archive of 23 personal stories featuring SMCI, which had been provided by 16 Hong Kong Chinese employees. The stories indicated that the most severe impacts on employee morale had arisen from punitive and targeted feedback based on misrepresentations by superiors, who had engaged in blame deflection, politicking and manipulation, conflict and retaliation, and/or prejudice and stereotyping. We also identified organizational processes, such as soliciting and accepting voice and engaging in problem solving discussions that could attenuate any adverse emotional impact.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

References

  • Ashforth, B. (1994). Petty tyranny in organizations. Human Relations, 47(7), 755–778.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bacharach, S., & Bamberger, P. (2004). The power of labor to grieve: The impact of the workplace, labor market, and power-dependence on employee grievance filing. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 57(4), 518–539.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bemmels, B., Brown, G., & Read, R. (2009). A restorative justice perspective on grievance procedures. Presented at the 15th World Congress of the International Industrial Relations Association, August 2009, Sydney, Australia. http://www.ilera-directory.org/15thworldcongress/files/papers/Track_4/Poster/CS1W_9_BEMMELS.pdf Accessed 31 March 2020.

  • Bitner, M. J., Booms, B. H., & Mohr, L. A. (1994). Critical service encounters: The employee’s viewpoint. Journal of Marketing, 58(4), 95–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boje, D. M. (2001). Narrative methods for organization research and communication research. Sage.

  • Brannen, J. (1988). The study of sensitive subjects. Sociological Review, 36(3), 552–563.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, A. D., & Jones, M. (2000). Honourable members and dishonourable deeds: Sensemaking, impression management and legitimation in the ‘Arms to Iraq’ affair. Human Relations, 53(5), 655–689.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, W. K., & Sedikides, C. (1999). Self-threat magnifies the self-serving bias: A meta-analytic integration. Review of General Psychology, 3(1), 23–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chia, R. (2009). The nature of knowledge and knowing in the context of management learning, education and development. In S. J. Armstrong & C. V. Fukami (Eds.), The Sage handbook of management learning, education and development (pp. 23–41). Sage.

  • Coan, H. (2002). Risk, error and blame in organizations: A communication approach. Corporate Communications, 7(4), 232–240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., Wesson, M. J., Porter, C. O. L. H., & Ng, K. Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 424–445.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conklin, T. A. (2007). Method or madness: Phenomenology as knowledge creator. Journal of Management Inquiry, 16(3), 275–287.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, C. D., & Scandura, T. A. (2012). Was I unfair? Antecedents and consequences of managerial perspective taking in a predicament of injustice. In C. A. Schriesheim & L. L. Neider (Eds.), Research in management. Perspectives on justice and trust in organizations (pp. 107–138). IAP Information Age Publishing.

  • Crandall, C. S., & Eshleman, A. (2004). The justification-suppression model of prejudice: An approach to the history of prejudice research. In C. S. Crandall & M. Schaller (Eds.), Social psychology of prejudice: Historical and contemporary issues (pp. 237–267). Lewinian Press.

  • Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (Third ed.). Sage.

  • Cridland, C. (2013). Attribution biases—How do you see the world? https://www.mediate.com/articles/CridlandC3.cfm. Last accessed 7 January 2021.

  • Cropanzano, R., Howes, J. C., Grandey, A. A., & Toth, P. (1997). The relationship of organizational politics and support to work behaviors, attitudes, and stress. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 18(2), 159–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • d’Iribarne, P. (2002). Motivating workers in emerging countries: Universal tools and local adaptations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(3), 243–256.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dubrin, A. J. (2009). Political behavior in organizations. Sage.

  • Duckitt, J. (2009). Authoritarianism and dogmatism. In M. R. Leary & R. H. Hoyle (Eds.), Handbook of individual differences in social behavior (pp. 298–317). Guilford Press.

  • Faulkner, S. L., & Trotter, S. P. (2017). Data saturation. The international encyclopedia of communication research methods (pp. 1-2). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118901731.iecrm0060

  • Ferris, D. L., Spence, J. R., Brown, D. J., & Heller, D. (2012). Interpersonal injustice and workplace deviance: The role of esteem threat. Journal of Management, 38(6), 1788–1811.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox, S., & Stallworth, L. E. (2005). Racial/ethnic bullying: Exploring links between bullying and racism in the US workplace. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 66(3), 438–456.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabriel, Y. (1995). The unmanaged organisation: Stories, fantasies, subjectivity. Organization Studies, 16(3), 477–501.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabriel, Y. (1998). An introduction to the social psychology of insults in organizations. Human Relations, 51(11), 1329–1354.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabriel, Y. (2000). Storytelling in organizations: Facts, factions, and fantasies. Oxford University Press.

  • Gladwell, M. (2008). The ethnic theory of plane crashes: ‘Captain, the weather radar has helped us a lot’. In M. Gladwell (Ed.), Outliers: The story of success (pp. 177–223). Little, Brown & Co..

  • Grégoire, Y., & Fisher, R. J. (2008). Customer betrayal and retaliation: When your best customers become your worst enemies. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36(2), 247–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groth, M., Gutek, B. A., & Douma, B. (2001). Effects of service mechanisms and modes on customers’ attributions about service delivery. Journal of Quality Management, 6(2), 331–348.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halcrow, A. (2002). Navigating the new landscape of workplace privacy rights. Employee Relations Today, 29(1), 45–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hempel, P. S. (2008). Chinese reactions to performance feedback: Non-task attributions of feedback intentions. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 46(2), 196–219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hernez-Broome, G., & Hughes, R. L. (2004). Leadership development: Past, present, and future. Human Resource Planning, 27(1), 24–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. F., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind: Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival (Third ed.). McGraw-Hill.

  • Hoyle, C., Speechly, N-E. & Burnett, R. (2016). The impact of being wrongly accused of abuse in occupations of trust: Victims’ voices. Oxford, UK: Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford. https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxlaw/the_impact_of_being_wrongly_accused_of_abuse_hoyle_speechley_burnett_final_26_may.pdf. Accessed 10 August 2020.

  • International Labour Organization. (2004). Economic security for a better world. ILO.

  • Jackall, R. (1988). Moral mazes: The world of corporate managers. Oxford University Press.

  • Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Tjosvold, D. (2000). Constructive controversy: The value of intellectual opposition. In M. Deutsch & P. T. Coleman (Eds.), The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice (pp. 65–85). Jossey-Bass.

  • Khattak, M. N., Khan, M. B., Fatima, T., & Shah, S. Z. A. (2019). The underlying mechanism between perceived organizational injustice and deviant workplace behaviors: Moderating role of personality traits. Asia Pacific Management Review, 24(3), 201–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kivimäki, M., Ferrie, J. E., Head, J., Shipley, M. J., Vahtera, J., & Marmot, M. G. (2004). Organisational justice and change in justice as predicators of employee health: The Whitehall II study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 58(11), 931–937.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klaas, B. S., Olson-Buchanan, J. B., & Ward, A.-K. (2012). The determinants of alternative forms of workplace voice: An integrative perspective. Journal of Management, 38(1), 314–345.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuriakose, V., Sreejech, S., Jose, H., & Jose, S. (2019). Process conflict and employee well-being: An application of activity reduces conflict associated strain (ARCAS) model. International Journal of Conflict Management, 30(4), 462–489.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landau, J. (2009). To speak or not to speak: Predictors of voice propensity. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communication and Conflict, 13(1), 35–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lind, E. A., & Tyler, T. R. (1988). The social psychology of procedural justice. Plenum.

  • Loi, R., Xu, A. J., & Liu, Y. (2015). Abuse in the name of injustice: Mechanisms of moral disengagement. Asian Journal of Business Ethics, 4(1), 57–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Low, Y. M., Sambasivan, M., & Ho, J. A. (2021). Impact of abusive supervision on counterproductive work behaviors of nurses. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 59, 250–278. https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7941.12234.

  • Martinko, M. J., & Gardner, W. L. (1987). The leader/member attribution process. Academy of Management Review, 12(2), 235–249.

    Google Scholar 

  • McFarland, S. (2010). Authoritarianism, social dominance, and other roots of generalized prejudice. Political Psychology, 31(3), 453–477.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. (2020). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (Fourth ed.). Sage.

  • Ngo, H.-Y., Tang, C. S. K., & Au, W. W. T. (2002). Behavioural responses to employment discrimination: A study of Hong Kong workers. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 13(8), 1206–1223.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, J., & Davies, B. (2020). No blame no gain? From a no blame culture to a responsibility culture in medicine. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 37(4), 646–660. https://doi.org/10.1111/japp.12433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phelps, D. L. (2013). Supervisee experiences of corrective feedback in clinical supervision: A consensual qualitative research study. Doctoral Dissertation. Milwaukee, WIS: Marquette University Graduate School. https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/257. Last accessed 28 March 2021.

  • Podsakoff, P. M., Bommer, W. H., Podsakoff, N. P., & MacKenzie, S. B. (2006). Relationships between leader reward and punishment behavior and subordinate attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors: A meta-analytic review of existing and new research. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 99(2), 113–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roch, S. G., & Shanock, L. R. (2006). Organizational justice in an exchange framework: Clarifying organizational justice distinctions. Journal of Management, 32(2), 299–322.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandberg, J., & Tsoukas, H. (2015). Making sense of the sensemaking perspective: Its constituents, limitations, and opportunities for further development. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(S1), S6–S32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shenkar, O. (1994). The People’s Republic of China: Raising the bamboo screen through international management research. International Studies of Management and Organization, 24(1/2), 9–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snell, R. S., & Herndon Jr., N. C. (2004). Hong Kong’s code of ethics initiative: Some differences between theory and practice. Journal of Business Ethics, 51(1), 75–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snell, R. S., & Wong, M. M. L. (2006). Representational predicaments and organizational injustice: Cases from Hong Kong. In APROS Colloquium (11th: 2005) (pp. 296-305). Melbourne, Vic, Australia: RMIT Publishing/Asia-Pacific Researchers in Organization Studies. https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=308058321024986;res=IELBUS. Accessed 10 August 2020

  • Snell, R. S., & Wong, M. M. L. (2009). Representational predicaments at three Hong Kong sites. Organization Studies, 30(7), 779–802.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snell, R. S., Wong, M. M.-L., Chak, A. M.-K., & Hui, S. S.-K. (2013a). Representational predicaments at work: How they are experienced and why they may happen. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 30(1), 251–279.

  • Snell, R. S., Zhang, Y., & Chak, A.M.-K. (2013b). Representational predicaments for employees: Their impact on perceptions of supervisors’ individualized consideration and on employee job satisfaction. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(8), 1646–1670.

  • Stanojevic, A., Akkerman, A., & Manevska, K. (2020). Good workers and crooked bosses: The effect of voice suppression by supervisors on employees’ populist attitudes and voting. Political Psychology, 41(2), 363–381.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research. Sage.

  • Styhre, A., & Sundgren, M. (2003). ‘Management is evil’: Management control, technoscience and saudade in pharmaceutical research. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 24(8), 436–446.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang, P. F., Johansson, C., Wadensten, B., Wenneberg, S., & Ahlström, G. (2007). Chinese nurses’ ethical concerns in a neurological ward. Nursing Ethics, 14(6), 810–824.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tu, W. M. (1998). Probing the ‘three bonds’ and ‘five relationships’ in Confucian humanism. In W. H. Slote & G. A. DeVos (Eds.), Confucianism and the family (pp. 121–136). State University of New York Press.

  • Vredenburgh, D., & Brender, Y. (1998). The hierarchical abuse of power in work organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 17(12), 1337–1347.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilhelm, C. C., Herd, A. M., & Steiner, D. D. (1993). Attributional conflict between managers and subordinates: An investigation of leader-member exchange effects. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 14(6), 531–543.

    Google Scholar 

  • Withey, M. J., & Cooper, W. H. (1989). Predicting exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect. Administrative Science Quarterly, 34(4), 521–539.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong, K. Y., & Wan, P. S. (2009). New evidence of the postmaterialist shift: The experience of Hong Kong. Social Indicators Research, 92(3), 497–515.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wornham, D. (2003). A descriptive investigation of morality and victimisation at work. Journal of Business Ethics, 45(1, 2), 29–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, C. (2020). How to avoid coworker relationship conflict: A study of leader-member exchange, value congruence, and workplace behavior. Asian Journal of Business Ethics, 9(1), 47–71.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

The research was funded by a Competitive Earmarked Research Grant LU 3013/02H from the Hong Kong University Grants Committee.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Adjunct Professor of Management, Lingnan University, 8, Castle Peak Road, Tuen Mun, NT, Hong Kong

    Robin Stanley Snell

  2. Visiting Professor of Management, Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Hang Shin Link, Siu Lek Yuen, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong

    Robin Stanley Snell

  3. Department of Management, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong

    Almaz Man-kuen Chak

  4. Department of Management, Lingnan University, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong

    May Mei-ling Wong

  5. Division of Languages and Communication, Hong Kong Community College, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong

    Sandy Suk-kwan Hui

Authors
  1. Robin Stanley Snell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Almaz Man-kuen Chak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. May Mei-ling Wong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sandy Suk-kwan Hui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robin Stanley Snell.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 8 Story 1 by F4
Full size table
Table 9 Story 2 by F7
Full size table
Table 10 Story 3 by M18
Full size table
Table 11 Story 5 by F21
Full size table
Table 12 Story 9 by M11
Full size table
Table 13 Story 12 by M23
Full size table
Table 14 Story 13 by F4
Full size table
Table 15 Story 16 by F29
Full size table
Table 16 Story 18 by F33
Full size table
Table 17 Story 22 by M18
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Snell, R.S., Chak, A.Mk., Wong, M.Ml. et al. Self-perceived misattributed culpability or incompetence at work. Asian J Bus Ethics 10, 103–128 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-021-00124-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-021-00124-z

Keywords

search

Navigation