Perceptions of organizational value and unethical/deviant behaviors among lecturers in Archeology and Religion and Cultural Studies: An intervention study

Abstract

Background: Understanding an organization’s ethical standards assists employees in abiding by stipulated rules and regulations and reduces the prevalent rate of inappropriate behaviors. Unfortunately, some workers do not know and as a result, they become dysfunctional, affecting their professional identities. Given this, scholars have called for psychoeducational strategies that coach workers to improve their perceptions. With this in mind, we investigated the impact of psychoeducational coaching on workplace ethical perceptions and deviant behaviors among lecturers in Archeology and Religion and Cultural Studies. Methods: A group randomized control design was adopted, and a sample of lecturers was assigned to intervention and control groups using a simple allocation sequence method. Three dependent measures were used to assess the participants’ irrational beliefs, work values, and deviant behaviors before the intervention, after, and 2 months later as a follow-up test. Data collected were cued into SPSS version 28. A multivariate analysis was performed to test postulated hypotheses at .05 probability level. Results: The results showed that rational-emotive behavior occupational coaching has a significant impact on reducing unethical work values and work-deviant behaviors among lecturers in Archeology and Religion and Cultural Studies. The finding of this study justified the effectiveness of rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) approaches in treating irrational beliefs that occasioned work-deviant behaviors among the employees. Conclusion: It is concluded in this study that rational-emotive behavior occupational coaching is beneficial and effective in decreasing unethical work values and work-deviant behaviors among lecturers in Archeology and Religion and Cultural Studies. Therefore, REBT practitioners should liaise with lecturers in Archeology and Religion and Cultural Studies to advance the practice of REBT in workplaces.