The Management of Workplace Deviance: Organizational Responses to Employee Drug Use

Abstract

Although research has explored the diffusion of drug testing as a management technique, little attention has been paid to how organizations manage employees who fail drug tests. Organizations can choose a strategy that externalizes or internalizes the drug-positive employee. Furthermore, those organizations that internalize drug-positive employees may respond in a rehabilitative or punitive manner. This paper explores the variation in organizational responses to positive drug tests by considering industrial sector, organizational structure, and culture. Using data from the 1997 National Employee Survey, multinomial logistic regression results indicate significant differences in organizational responses to positive drug tests based on the industrial sector, unionization, the provision of employee assistance program services, establishment size, and formalization.