Strain Theory

This study aims to examine the dual association of emotional stability and emotional exhaustion with work deviant behavior (WDB) in an Asian context, with an insight on Malaysia. As a dispositional characteristic, emotional stability was chosen to be studied because individuals observed experiencing it at low levels, have a tendency towards deviant behavior (Berry et al., 2007; Gonzalez-Mule, DeGeest, Kiersch, & Mount, 2013; Hudson, Roberts, & Lodi-Smith, 2012; Penney et al., 2011).
Similarly, employees experiencing emotional exhaustion have a tendency towards deviant behavior (Berry et al., 2007; Gonzalez-Mule et al., 2013; Hudson et al., 2012; Le et al., 2011; Penney et al., 2011). By examining the combination of emotional stability and

Agnew’s (1992) revision of the GST provided a broader inclusion of various forms of stressors in the concept of strain. Agnew’s (1992) further analysis predicted that individuals respond to strain in multiple ways. Robust applications of GST has concentrated on criminal conducts specifically harmful conducts towards another individual in the form of theft or violence, or damaging conducts on organizational property. (Hay et al., 2010). In addition, the theory explains that negative emotions exert pressures that result in criminal and deviant behavior (Agnew, 1992). On the basis of response, GST asserts that strain-related events render negative emotional buildups with incremental need for corrective action, and deviant behavior being a potential form of response. Agnew (1992, 2001) further advanced the theory by providing conditioning factors influencing individual’s strain adaptation using deviant or non-deviant

Our study posits emotional exhaustion as a mediating mechanism that influences job stress towards deviance. According to Hallberg and Sverke (2004), individuals’ psychological resources begin to deplete when exposed to sustained work stress and the inability to manage the sources of stress and the effects that follows. Friedman (2002 –update) further explained that this situation entails individuals to experience strain physically, psychologically and emotionally. Furthermore, extreme circumstances cause individuals to experience burnout (Thompson & Page, 1992), which is a psychological state shaped by sustained job stress, and one of its dimensions identified being emotional exhaustion (Maslach et al., 2001). Daily impacts of job stress effectively drains employee’s energy, which proceeds to emotional exhaustion (Houkes, Janseen, DeJonge & Bakker, 2003). Maslach and Jackson (1981, p. 101) defines emotional exhaustion as “the feeling of being emotionally overextended and exhausted by ones' work”. In a study conducted by Stordeur et al. (2001), effects of job-related stressors on emotional exhaustion were examined and results show that employees’ stress is positively related to increased emotional exhaustion. As a condition situated at the workplace, job