Modeling
Jalil Hashemi; Amirhooshang Nazarpouri; Mohammad Hakkak; Seyed Najmeddin Mousavi
Abstract
Introduction
Organizations are complex social systems in which formal structures, informal relations, and hidden emotions continuously interact. Within these systems, perceived injustice, breaches of psychological contracts, and leadership failures often give rise to deviant responses from employees. ...
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Introduction
Organizations are complex social systems in which formal structures, informal relations, and hidden emotions continuously interact. Within these systems, perceived injustice, breaches of psychological contracts, and leadership failures often give rise to deviant responses from employees. While overt forms of workplace deviance; such as absenteeism, open conflict, or explicit resistance; have been widely studied, covert and subtle retaliatory behaviors remain understudied, despite their significant long-term impact. Among these covert forms, the phenomenon of silent revenge has emerged as a hidden but powerful behavioral response. Silent revenge refers to intentional but covert actions taken by employees to retaliate against perceived organizational mistreatment, unfairness, or neglect, without making these actions directly visible to supervisors or formal systems.
The purpose of this study was to design and explain a grounded theoretical model of silent revenge formation in public organizations. In the specific context of Iranian bureaucratic institutions, where voice channels are limited and hierarchical structures are rigid, employees often perceive that overt protest is risky or ineffective. Consequently, they resort to hidden strategies of retaliation that remain invisible on the surface but gradually erode organizational trust, efficiency, and legitimacy. This research therefore sought to uncover the antecedents, processes, and consequences of silent revenge and to provide a model that both scholars and practitioners can use to better understand and address this concealed threat.
The concept of retaliation in organizations has long been linked to theories of organizational justice, social exchange, and psychological contracts. Equity theory argues that perceived inequities generate pressures to restore balance, while social exchange theory highlights the norm of reciprocity—both positive and negative. When employees perceive breaches in distributive or procedural justice, they may feel compelled to reciprocate in ways that disadvantage the organization. However, existing literature has largely emphasized visible deviance or destructive behaviors such as theft, absenteeism, or overt aggression. Less attention has been paid to subtle, invisible behaviors that employees adopt when formal voice mechanisms are absent or ineffective. Silent revenge fills this gap by explaining how employees retaliate not by openly confronting management but by withdrawing effort, withholding cooperation, manipulating information, or subtly sabotaging organizational processes.
In public organizations, where bureaucratic routines, rigid hierarchies, and opaque procedures prevail, silent revenge can be especially destructive. It erodes the credibility of managerial authority, undermines service quality, and contributes to the erosion of trust between citizens and state institutions. This study thus offers both theoretical and practical significance: it extends organizational deviance literature by theorizing covert retaliation, and it provides public managers with insights into how to detect and mitigate these hidden behaviors.
Methodology
This research employed a qualitative design using grounded theory methodology. Data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews with a purposive and theoretically selected sample of 16 participants, including human resource managers, frontline employees, experienced observers, and retired senior managers from public organizations in Kurdistan province, Iran. Sampling continued until theoretical saturation was achieved: while saturation was evident after 14 interviews, two additional interviews were conducted to confirm completeness.
The interview protocol included open-ended questions regarding perceptions of unfairness, reactions to managerial behaviors, experiences with conflict or retaliation, and strategies used by employees when they felt powerless to voice concerns. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding procedures. NVivo software was employed to support coding and categorization. Trustworthiness was established through prolonged engagement in the field, member checking, peer debriefing, and the maintenance of reflexive journals. These measures enhanced the credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability of the findings.
Findings
The analysis produced a multi-layered model of silent revenge formation consisting of causal factors, contextual conditions, intervening variables, behavioral manifestations, and consequences.
Causal/Antecedent Conditions. Employees described a range of triggers that generated feelings of frustration and injustice, including unfair reward distribution, biased promotions, lack of recognition, prior negative encounters with managers, and the absence of welfare and support systems. These antecedents created emotional tension and a desire for retaliation.
Contextual Conditions. The organizational environment was shown to play a crucial role. Rigid bureaucratic structures, toxic organizational cultures, lack of empathy from leadership, and opaque communication channels limited the possibility of open dialogue. In such settings, employees perceived that overt resistance would not only be ineffective but might also endanger their career security.
Intervening/Moderating Factors. The transition from dissatisfaction to silent revenge was shaped by individual and cultural moderators. Employees with higher emotional sensitivity, lower resilience, or personal economic pressures were more likely to engage in silent revenge. Moreover, socio-cultural norms valuing silence, patience, or indirect resistance reinforced the adoption of covert strategies.
Behavioral Strategies of Silent Revenge. Participants described a variety of tactics, including withholding or distorting information, intentional work slowdowns, reduced quality of output, covert sabotage of resources, spreading rumors to undermine leaders, disengagement from team activities, and undermining managerial authority in subtle ways. Importantly, these behaviors were not random but calculated efforts to retaliate without detection.
Consequences. Silent revenge was shown to produce damaging outcomes at multiple levels. At the individual level, employees experienced burnout, emotional exhaustion, and declining organizational commitment. At the organizational level, consequences included reduced productivity, information breakdowns, declining service quality, and reputational harm. At the societal level, the erosion of trust in public institutions undermined citizen confidence and fostered cynicism toward state governance.
Discussion and Interpretation
The findings extend prior theories of organizational justice, psychological contracts, and organizational silence. While previous studies acknowledged that breaches of fairness can lead to deviance, this study shows that when formal complaint channels are absent, retaliation does not disappear; rather, it takes hidden and less detectable forms.
The model suggests that silent revenge functions as a form of “exit without leaving”-a way for employees to symbolically withdraw while remaining within the organization. This aligns with the literature on “quiet quitting,” but with a more retaliatory orientation. Furthermore, the study highlights the cultural context: in societies where direct confrontation with authority is discouraged, covert retaliation becomes an adaptive response.
By integrating individual, organizational, and cultural factors, the model advances the literature on deviant workplace behavior. It also offers a framework for future research to develop measurement scales, test causal dynamics, and compare cross-cultural differences in silent retaliation.
Practical Implications
The study offers several actionable recommendations for public organizations:
- Strengthening organizational justice: ensuring fairness in reward distribution, transparent promotion systems, and clear procedural guidelines.
- Developing safe voice channels: creating anonymous reporting mechanisms, independent grievance systems, and ombudsperson offices to provide employees with constructive outlets.
- Leadership training: equipping managers with skills in empathy, fair decision-making, and conflict resolution to reduce the likelihood of retaliatory perceptions.
- Early detection systems: using HR analytics and monitoring performance indicators (delays, errors, absenteeism) to identify patterns of silent revenge before escalation.
- Employee support: offering wellness programs, workload management, and professional development to reduce stressors that fuel retaliatory impulses.
Limitations and Future Research
As a qualitative study, the findings are context-specific and not intended for statistical generalization. Future research should develop quantitative instruments to measure silent revenge, conduct large-scale surveys, and employ longitudinal designs to trace the temporal evolution of covert retaliation. Comparative research across sectors and cultural contexts would further validate and refine the model.
This study provides one of the first systematic attempts to conceptualize and empirically model the phenomenon of silent revenge in organizations. By identifying its antecedents, processes, and consequences, the research highlights the hidden ways in which employees retaliate when they feel mistreated but lack safe avenues for voice. For public organizations, recognizing and addressing silent revenge is critical not only for preserving productivity and trust but also for maintaining the legitimacy of state institutions. The grounded theory model and recommendations presented here thus contribute to both academic theory and practical organizational reform.
Theorizing
Amirhooshang Nazarpouri; Mehran Mesri; Rezvan Mennati
Abstract
In the last decade, in the political system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, we have witnessed the behavior of government administrators who, due to the degradation of their power and position, have caused serious damage to their records and their past achievements, as well as the system that is the ...
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In the last decade, in the political system of the Islamic Republic of Iran, we have witnessed the behavior of government administrators who, due to the degradation of their power and position, have caused serious damage to their records and their past achievements, as well as the system that is the result of their own achievements. To theorize this behavioral model of government managers, a metaphor was taken from the disease of masochism. Masochistic personality is a personality type in which people tend to exhibit self-destructive behaviors. The purpose of the research was to theorize the emergence pattern of masochistic behavior of public administrators by taking the metaphor of a mental illness. The research method was metaphorical theorizing, and the research data were collected and analyzed using the grounded theory method and Glasser (appearing) productivity method. The basis of the study was the research of the political system of the Islamic Republic. As a result, interviews were conducted with 15 experts in public administration and political science (using a targeted method) to collect data. The method of data analysis was based on three-stage open, central and selective coding. The results obtained from the data analysis were divided into four main components of masochistic personality of public administrators, masochistic ideology of public administrators, masochistic policies and masochistic atmosphere, and then these four components were divided into two general categories of masochistic values and system. Cultivating masochism was categorized as the main reasons for masochistic behavior of public administrators. Finally, the consequences of managers' masochistic behavior were identified and strategies were suggested for them. In the general summary of this research, according to the opinion of experts, the policies of the system in the selection of public administrators are the main reason for the occurrence of masochistic behavior of public administrators, and factors such as the personality of public administrators, the masochistic ideology of administrators, and the atmosphere of masochism can complement the occurrence of masochistic behavior of administrators.
Modeling
Amir hooshang Nazarpouri; Ali Shariatnejad; Leila Hassanpour
Abstract
the current research was carried out with the aim of identifying and explaining the antecedent and consequent factors of Micromanagement in governmental organizations. This study which simultaneously used two quantitative and qualitative approaches, is applied research based on purpose and exploratory ...
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the current research was carried out with the aim of identifying and explaining the antecedent and consequent factors of Micromanagement in governmental organizations. This study which simultaneously used two quantitative and qualitative approaches, is applied research based on purpose and exploratory in terms of method. The statistical population of the study was the managers of the governmental organizations of Lorestan Province and the professors of Lorestan University, the sample members were selected using the purposeful sampling method and based on the principle of theoretical adequacy, the views and opinions of 30 of them were examined, the information and data Required, collected and theoretical saturation was achieved. The tool for collecting information in the qualitative part is an interview and in the quantitative part is a questionnaire, whose validity and reliability were confirmed. In the qualitative section, the data obtained from the interview were analyzed with the Atlas.ti software and the coding method, and the antecedent and consequent factors of Micromanagement were identified. In the quantitative part, using the Delphi Fuzzy method, the priority of these factors was determined. The results of the research indicate that in the among, lack of trust in employees by the manager, manager's fear and negative attitude towards delegating authority, were identified as the most important antecedent factors of Micromanagement and also, Increasing employee stress, Dependence of employees on the orders of the manager as the most important consequence factors behind this style of management in government organizations.
