TITLE:
Deceitful Behaviour, Subtle Behaviour and Procurement Sustainability: Mediating Role of Psychological Contract Violation
AUTHORS:
Prince Junior Amoh, Matilda Maaboah Owusu-Mensah, Eric Ahudey, Felix Amoako Offei, Emmanuel Oppong Afriyie
KEYWORDS:
Unethical Behaviour (UEB), Deceitful Behaviour (DB), Subtle Behaviour (SB), Psychological Contract Violation (PCV), Procurement Sustainability (PS)
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.12 No.7,
July
28,
2025
ABSTRACT: This study explores how deceitful and subtle behaviors can affect procurement sustainability, considering psychological contract violation as a potential mediator. Subsequently, data were collected from 123 respondents in the manufacturing sector using purposive sampling and a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire. This study used an explanatory research design, with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) carried out using SmartPLS and SPSS version 23. The outcomes of the study showed that deceitful behavior positively corresponds with psychological contract violation, but subtle behavior negatively correlates. Also, deceitful behavior has a positive and significant link to procurement sustainability, while subtle practices affected procurement sustainability insignificantly. In addition, psychological contract violation has a positive and significant link to procurement sustainability. While deceit behavior, subtle behavior, and procurement sustainability were not mediated by psychological contract breach, the report suggests encouraging ethics and enforcing rules to deter wrongdoing. In short, more research across varied industries with larger and more representative samples is needed. Despite sample size and data collecting constraints, this research adds to the little literature on ethics and sustainable procurement, underlining the need for more studies.