1990/07/01 by Blake E. Ashforth, Raymond T. Lee · 2 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Social Sciences · #Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior #Workplace Violence and Bullying #Management and Organizational Studies
paper · doi:10.1177/001872679004300702
openalex publication_date 1990/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/08
The literature on organizational politics has focused on the proactive promotion of self-interests but has neglected the reactive defense of self-interests. Defensive behaviors are argued to: (1) avoid action, via over-conforming, passing the buck, playing dumb, depersonalizing, smoothing and stretching, and stalling, (2) avoid blame via buffing, playing safe, justifying, scapegoating, misrepresenting, and escalating commitment, and (3) avoid change via resisting change and protecting turf. Organizational antecedents of defensiveness include bureaucratic rationality and various stressors, and individual antecedents include insecurity and anxiety, emotional exhaustion, work alienation, self-monitoring, and low self-efficacy. The effects of defensiveness on the individual, recipients, and organization are discussed, and directions for future research are presented.