Toxic Workplace Behaviour, Organisational Justice and Employee Job Performance in Selected Universities in Edo and Delta States, Nigeria
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Abstract
This study investigated the relationship between toxic workplace behaviours, organisational justice, and employee performance among academics in selected private and public universities in Edo and Delta States, Nigeria. The study examined how workplace ostracism, harassment, bullying, and abusive supervision influence teaching quality, research productivity, and community service, as well as the mediating role of organisational justice. Using a survey design, data were collected from373distributedquestionnaires, outofwhich305 valid responses (81.8%) were analysed through descriptive statistics, correlation, regression, and structural equation modeling (SEM).
The findings revealed that harassment significantly reduced all dimensions of employee performance, while workplace ostracism and bullying showed weaker effects. Interestingly, abusive supervision had a mixed outcome, with non-significant or positive effects on certain aspects of performance. Organisational justice was found to play both full and partial mediating roles, reinforcing its importance in mitigating the negative consequences of toxic workplace behaviours. In addition, demographic factors such as marital status, institution type, and state of origin were found to significantly shape the relationship between toxic behaviours and employee performance, while gender, age, and qualification showed no significant influence. The study concludes that toxic workplace behaviours undermine psychological resources, weaken academic performance, and threaten institutional effectiveness, while organisational justice offers a protective buffer against these negative effects. Based on the findings, the study recommends that universities strengthen fair grievance-handling mechanisms, implement policies that discourage toxic behaviours, promote supportive leadership practices, build awareness and training on workplace civility, and institutionalise transparent reward and recognition systems to sustain employee performance and academic excellence.
The findings revealed that harassment significantly reduced all dimensions of employee performance, while workplace ostracism and bullying showed weaker effects. Interestingly, abusive supervision had a mixed outcome, with non-significant or positive effects on certain aspects of performance. Organisational justice was found to play both full and partial mediating roles, reinforcing its importance in mitigating the negative consequences of toxic workplace behaviours. In addition, demographic factors such as marital status, institution type, and state of origin were found to significantly shape the relationship between toxic behaviours and employee performance, while gender, age, and qualification showed no significant influence. The study concludes that toxic workplace behaviours undermine psychological resources, weaken academic performance, and threaten institutional effectiveness, while organisational justice offers a protective buffer against these negative effects. Based on the findings, the study recommends that universities strengthen fair grievance-handling mechanisms, implement policies that discourage toxic behaviours, promote supportive leadership practices, build awareness and training on workplace civility, and institutionalise transparent reward and recognition systems to sustain employee performance and academic excellence.
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