Illegitimate tasks, overqualification, organizational obstruction, and workplace deviance among nurses: A two-wave cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND

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.

OBJECTIVE

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.

METHODS

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.

RESULTS

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]).

CONCLUSIONS

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.