Why do employees break rules? Understanding organizational rule-breaking behaviors in hospitality

This study explores employees' organizational rule-breaking behaviors in the hospitality industry. Unlike the majority of hospitality literature which suggest rule-breakers are deviant, a growing stream of management research suggested that intentions behind rule-breaking behaviors among organizational employees include self-interest, to increase work efficiency, to help a subordinate or a coworker, and to provide good customer service. Our study extends the research on rule-breaking not only by studying the intentions of hospitality employee rule breaking behaviors, but also by exploring the types of rules broken and the possible consequences of such behaviors. Eighty hospitality workers studying at a public university in the U.S. were surveyed in a qualitative study. We transcribed, coded and analyzed the emerging themes in the qualitative data. Results show that while intentions of hospitality employees' rule-breaking behaviors are consistent with existing management studies from other industries, the unique nature of the hospitality workforce shapes the nature of rule-breaking behaviors. We also showed that the consequences are different for the four types of rule-breaking behaviors. This study yields important implications on how hospitality organizations should manage employees' rule-breaking behaviors.