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

Abstract

substance abuse treatment organizations and the associations between work experiences and alcohol consumption. Paul M. Roman is director of the center and a distinguished research professor of sociology at the University of Georgia. His research focuses on the organization of treatment systems and the design of intervention efforts for employees with substance abuse problems. J. Aaron Johnson is an assistant research scientist in the center. His research focuses on organizations and substance abuse, particularly the longitudinal effects of intra-organizational and external environment factors on changes within substance abuse treatment centers.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.

Employment‐based abstinence reinforcement as a maintenance intervention for the treatment of cocaine dependence: a randomized controlled trial

“…Work-places in the United States use drug testing most commonly as part of pre-employment screening [24]. Employers occasionally mandate drug testing for employees who have been identified as having a drug problem [24], and terminate employees who persist in using during their employment [25]. Given the chronic nature of drug dependence, employees with histories of drug use may experience lapses, and could be subject to termination under a typical drug-testing program.…”

“…Employment-based abstinence reinforcement, in which access to employment is contingent upon objective evidence of drug abstinence, has been proposed as an ideal long-term treatment for cocaine dependence, because work-places control powerful reinforcers and facilitate regular and long-term monitoring of patients [20]. Drug testing is already used in work-places, so its use in employment-based abstinence reinforcement programs is consistent with existing work-place practices [21][22][23][24][25].…”

Adolescents in transition: The role of workplace alcohol and other drug policies as a prevention strategy

“…Research that has examined the negative outcomes of adolescent employment consistently reports a relationship between adolescent employment and AOD use (Dunn, 2005;Knudsen, Roman, & Johnson, 2004;McMorris & Uggen, 2000;Mihalic & Elliot, 1997;Paschall, Ringwalt, & Flewelling, 2001;Steinberg & Dornbusch, 1991;Steinberg, Fegley, & Dornbusch, 1993;Valois, Dunham, Jackson, & Waller, 1999;Wu, Schlenger, & Galvin, 2003). Of particular concern, is the consistent finding that adolescents who spend greater amounts of time at work each week report higher levels of AOD use (McMorris & Uggen, 2000;Steinberg & Dornbusch, 1991;Steinberg et al, 1993;Valois et al, 1999).…”

Factors affecting employer adoption of drug testing in New Zealand

“…Kossek, Dass, and DeMarr (1994) asserted that mimetic and normative pressures are a more favourable influence on early adoption, while coercive pressures may have an inhibiting influence, because coercive pressures involve sensitivity to negative or forced pressures, which firms may initially resist. Knudsen, Roman and Johnson (2004) noted that pre-employment drug testing had become normative in nature in the US.…”

“…Tepper (1994, 392) stated that 'most large corporations have implemented drug-testing programs' and organisational size has been used in drug testing studies (e.g. Knudsen, Roman and Johnson 2004). Larger size organisations may have the financial resources to conduct potentially expensive HR practices like drug testing.…”