Organizational dehumanization fuelling opportunistic behaviour: A social exchange perspective

Abstract Organizations generally treat their employees as tools for attaining maximum efficiency to achieve their production targets. In this regard, it is important to note that the global post‐pandemic era spiced up with technological advent has further catalysed the existing mechanistic approach towards the workforce. Moreover, the investigation of organizational dehumanization in the Asian region has its unique significance. This pervasive phenomenon needs scholarly attention to realize its deleterious outcomes. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between organizational dehumanization and opportunistic behaviour. Moreover, the underlying mechanism of calculative commitment was proposed along with the negative reciprocity norms moderating the indirect effect of organization dehumanization to opportunistic behaviour through calculative commitment. The proposed model was grounded on the assumptions of social exchange theory. The survey method was utilized to collect from the service sector organizations operating in both private and public sector organizations in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. The data were collected in three‐time lags (2 weeks), with peer‐reported opportunistic behaviour. The CFA was done, followed by the utilization of model 4 and model 7 to test hypotheses. The results established a positive relationship between organizational dehumanization and opportunistic behaviour. Moreover, the mediation of calculative commitment was proven empirically with the high levels of negative reciprocity norms strengthening the indirect effect of organizational dehumanization to opportunistic behaviour through calculative commitment.