Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Program/Concentration

Workforce and Organizational Development

Committee Director

James Bartlett

Committee Member

Michelle Bartlett

Committee Member

Mohan Yang

Abstract

Organizations increasingly value employee curiosity for innovation and adaptation, but little empirical research has examined whether curiosity might also predict norm-violating workplace behaviors. This dissertation examined relationships between multidimensional curiosity and constructive workplace deviance, defined as intentional rule-breaking intended to benefit organizations. Grounded in the Novelty-Seeking Model, the study tested whether specific curiosity dimensions predict constructive deviance beyond Big Five personality traits and whether trait self-control moderates these relationships.

A cross-sectional survey of 600 U.S. employees recruited through Prolific measured six curiosity dimensions using the Five-Dimensional Curiosity Scale-Revised, trait self-control, Big Five personality, social desirability, and constructive deviance. Hierarchical multiple regression with heteroskedasticity-consistent standard errors tested main effects and moderation hypotheses.

Curiosity dimensions explained significant incremental variance beyond Big Five traits, though only Deprivation Sensitivity emerged as a significant unique predictor among preregistered dimensions (β = .18-.21). Exploratory analyses revealed that Thrill Seeking, excluded from confirmatory tests, demonstrated comparable effects (β = .20-.22). Joyous Exploration, Stress Tolerance, and Social Curiosity showed no unique predictive power. Self control did not moderate curiosity-deviance relationships. Curiosity dimensions did not differentially predict organizational versus interpersonal constructive deviance.

These findings suggest that curiosity’s potential costs emerge from specific dimensions rather than general inquisitiveness. Deprivation Sensitivity creates urgency that can override normative constraints, while Thrill Seeking may render rule-breaking intrinsically rewarding. Organizations can cultivate curiosity’s benefits while managing deviance risk by providing legitimate pathways for satisfying epistemic and arousal needs.

Comments

This pdf has an added cover page which shows manuscript history. The remainder of the pdf is the same as the version of record in ProQuest.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25777/rgt1-np84

ISBN

9798197810298

ORCID

0009-0003-1982-830X

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Available for download on Saturday, June 26, 2027

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