Yuan Shuai, Yan Yu
Academy of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.
Academy of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.
Int J Nurs Stud. 2025 Oct;170:105173. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2025.105173. Epub 2025 Jul 23.
Illegitimate tasks - defined as duties that violate professional role norms and identity - are increasingly acknowledged as stressors in clinical environments. Although existing theories such as Stress-as-Offense-to-Self and social exchange theory emphasize emotional responses, they insufficiently explain the cognitive pathways leading to deviant behaviors among nursing staff. Grounded in social information processing theory, this study proposes a cognitive mechanism linking illegitimate tasks to workplace deviance via perceived organizational obstruction, encompassing three stages: encoding of task characteristics, interpretation of organizational signals, and selection of behavioral responses. The study also examines whether perceived overqualification intensifies this process, as nurses with advanced skills may be particularly sensitive to task-role misalignments.
This study investigates whether perceived organizational obstruction mediates the relationship between illegitimate tasks and workplace deviance among nurses, and whether this indirect effect is moderated by perceived overqualification.
A two-wave, time-lagged survey design was implemented among 261 registered nurses from two public hospitals in central China. At Time 1, respondents (mean age = 31.4 years, SD = 6.2; 89 % female) reported perceived overqualification, illegitimate tasks, and perceived organizational obstruction. One month later (Time 2), they reported levels of organizational and interpersonal deviance. Hierarchical regression analysis and moderated mediation tests were used to examine the hypotheses.
Illegitimate tasks significantly increased perceived organizational obstruction (β = 0.53, 95 % CI = [0.38, 0.69], p < 0.001), which in turn predicted both organizational deviance (β = 0.17, 95 % CI = [0.10, 0.24], p < 0.001) and interpersonal deviance (β = 0.13, 95 % CI = [0.08, 0.18], p < 0.001). The indirect effects of illegitimate tasks through obstruction were significant for both organizational (indirect effect = 0.09, 95 % CI = [0.02, 0.18]) and interpersonal deviance (indirect effect = 0.07, 95 % CI = [0.02, 0.13]), with stronger effects on organizational deviance, indicating a preference for covert organizational retaliation over interpersonal conflict. Perceived overqualification exacerbated this process, with stronger indirect effects for those reporting higher overqualification on both organizational (indirect effect = 0.10, 95 % CI = [0.02, 0.20]) and interpersonal deviance (indirect effect = 0.07, 95 % CI = [0.02, 0.14]).
Illegitimate tasks promote workplace deviance by fostering negative organizational perceptions. This process is amplified among highly qualified employees. These findings highlight the need for clearer task allocation processes, situational justifications for unavoidable illegitimate tasks, and tailored management strategies for highly qualified employees to mitigate deviant behaviors.
非法任务——被定义为违反专业角色规范和身份的职责——在临床环境中越来越被视为压力源。尽管诸如“自我冒犯压力理论”和社会交换理论等现有理论强调情绪反应，但它们对导致护理人员出现越轨行为的认知途径解释不足。基于社会信息加工理论，本研究提出一种认知机制，通过感知到的组织阻碍将非法任务与工作场所越轨行为联系起来，该机制包括三个阶段：任务特征编码、组织信号解读和行为反应选择。该研究还考察了感知到的资质过高是否会强化这一过程，因为技能水平较高的护士可能对任务-角色不匹配特别敏感。
本研究调查感知到的组织阻碍是否在护士的非法任务与工作场所越轨行为之间起中介作用，以及这种间接效应是否会受到感知到的资质过高的调节。
对来自中国中部两家公立医院的261名注册护士实施了两波、时间滞后的调查设计。在时间1，受访者（平均年龄=31.4岁，标准差=6.2；89%为女性）报告了感知到的资质过高、非法任务和感知到的组织阻碍。一个月后（时间2），他们报告了组织和人际越轨行为的水平。采用分层回归分析和调节中介检验来检验假设。
非法任务显著增加了感知到的组织阻碍（β=0.53，95%置信区间=[0.38,0.69]，p<0.001），而这反过来又预测了组织越轨行为（β=0.17，95%置信区间=[0.10,0.24]，p<0.001）和人际越轨行为（β=0.13，95%置信区间=[0.08,0.18]，p<0.001）。非法任务通过阻碍产生的间接效应在组织越轨行为（间接效应=0.09，95%置信区间=[0.02,0.18]）和人际越轨行为（间接效应=0.07，95%置信区间=[0.02,0.13]）方面均显著，对组织越轨行为的影响更强，表明相较于人际冲突，更倾向于秘密的组织报复。感知到的资质过高加剧了这一过程，对于报告资质过高程度较高的人，在组织越轨行为（间接效应=0.10，95%置信区间=[0.02,0.20]）和人际越轨行为（间接效应=0.07，95%置信区间=[0.02,0.14]）方面的间接效应更强。
非法任务通过培养负面的组织认知来促进工作场所越轨行为。这一过程在高素质员工中会被放大。这些发现凸显了需要更清晰的任务分配流程、对不可避免的非法任务的情境合理性说明，以及针对高素质员工的定制管理策略，以减轻越轨行为。
