FACTORS AND EMPLOYEE DRINKING BEHAVIOR

Using a sample of blue-collar workers and drawing from managerial control theory, we derive and then test an integrative model of employee drinking behavior focusing on four key sets of work-related risk factors: (1) workplace culture, (2) alienation, (3) stress and (4) policy enforcement. Our results suggest that perceived permissive drinking norms – a core workplace culture risk factor-- is the strongest direct predictor of employee problem drinking. Moreover, the data suggest that while such norms both mediate and moderate the effects of variables associated with stress and policy enforcement on employee problem drinking, the mediational effects may offer a higher degree of explanatory potential. Implications with regard to the management of counterproductive employee behaviors are discussed. Control, defined by Edwards (1979: 17) as “the ability of managers to obtain the desired behavior from workers, ” has been a central focus of management theory for decades. Over the past 50 years, researchers have identified several different mainstream strategies of managerial control (Barley & Kunda, 1993; Edwards, 1979). Underlyin