Impact of Organizational Cronyism on Employee Performance: Buffering Role of Islamic Work Ethics

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the connection between organizational cronyism and employee performance in public sector universities. Researchers suggest organizational cronyism decreases positive work behaviors and increases negative work behaviors. Thus we do not only test the influence of organizational cronyism on work outcomes (e.g., employee performance) but we also investigate how the adverse effect of organizational cronyism on employee work outcome could be reduced. For this, we test the buffering role of Islamic work ethics in the connection of independent variable (organizational cronyism) and dependent variable (employee performance), which is a unique contribution of the study. Data were collected on two-time lags from faculty members working in different departments of public sector universities. In time interval 1, information was collected on employee demographics, organizational cronyism, and Islamic work ethics. In time interval 2, information was collected on employee performance. We used AMOS 21 and SPSS 23 to examine the data. The findings of the study indicate organizational cronyism reduces employee performance and Islamic work ethics moderated the connection between organizational cronyism and employee performance. The findings of the study suggest that the negative impact of organizational cronyism could be reduced if faculty members practice Islamic work ethics in a true sense. Additionally, the administration of the universities should conduct workshops and seminars on the importance of Islamic work ethics at the workplace. Managerial, theoretical, and practical implications in detail are also discussed along with study limitations.