Counterproductive Work Behavior Flashcards
What does Justice Theory suggest about CWB?
Justice Theory suggests that CWB occurs as a reaction to perceived unfair treatment in the organization.
What does Social Exchange Theory posit about workplace interactions and CWB?
- individuals weigh the costs and benefits of workplace interactions
- if costs outweigh benefits, they may engage in CWB as a form of reciprocation
How does Reactance Theory explain CWB?
- employees engage in CWB when their decision-making freedom is limited, as a reaction to the limitation of their job autonomy
Which theory suggests that stress responses can lead to CWB when resources are threatened?
Conservation of Resources Theory
How does Lazarus’ Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping relate to CWB?
- being mistreated by the organization or coworkers creates demands and stress
- resulting in CWB as a stress response
What does the stressor-emotion model of CWB suggest?
environmental stressors like job demands or mistreatment elicit negative emotions, which lead to CWB
Which of the Big Five personality traits show the strongest negative correlation with CWB?
- Conscientiousness
- Agreeableness
How much variance in CWB do the Big Five traits explain?
Roughly 19%
What unique trait in the HEXACO model explains a significant amount of variance in CWB and what does it describe?
- Honesty-Humility
- describes the tendency to be fair and genuine in interactions with others
What is the strongest negative correlation with CWB among all traits in the Big Five and HEXACO models?
Honesty-Humility (r = –.35).
How does gender relate to CWB?
Women are slightly less likely to engage in CWB than men
What is the relationship between age and CWB?
There is a small negative relation, with older employees being slightly less likely to engage in CWB
What has meta-analytic research shown about the correlation between cognitive ability and CWB?
The correlation is essentially zero
What recent finding suggests a scenario where cognitive ability may relate to CWB?
Overqualified individuals are more likely to engage in CWB, possibly due to lack of challenge and boredom at work
How do demographic characteristics like education or tenure relate to CWB?
They seem to be unrelated to CWB
What can be concluded about the best predictors of CWB?
- CWB is predicted best by stable, enduring personality traits and
- less by demographic characteristics or cognitive ability
Which form of organizational justice has the strongest negative relation to CWB?
Interactional justice.
What is Interactional justice?
perceived fairness of the interpersonal treatment employees receive from their supervisors or others in authority within the organization
According to Social Exchange Theory, what increases the likelihood of CWB?
- Experiencing incivility
- ostracism
- hostility, or
- conflicts with others in the organization
What situational characteristics are associated with reduced levels of CWB?
- Experiencing constructive leadership or
- support, such as appreciation of work and
- ethical leadership behavior
What is the first way in which individual differences and situational characteristics interact to predict Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB)?
Individual differences can moderate the positive relation between job stressors and CWB
How do Conscientious and agreeable individuals respond to job stressors in terms of CWB?
Conscientious and agreeable individuals are not as easily stressed and therefore engage in CWB much less compared to those low in these traits.
What is the second way in which situational characteristics have influence on the link between individual differences and CWB?
Situational characteristics can moderate the link between individual differences and CWB
In situations with weak group norms and low performance monitoring, how does personality relate to CWB?
Personality relates more strongly to CWB when situational demands are weaker (weak group norms and low performance monitoring).
What is OCB and how is it related to CWB?
- Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) refers to voluntary employee behavior that benefits the organization
- employees who engage in OCB are generally less likely to engage in CWB.
Why is it reasonable to assess CWB with self-reports despite their limitations?
- easier to collect
- anonymity makes the assessments more reliable.
What is one of the most notable limitations of most research on Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB)?
The inability to establish causality is a major limitation, as it is unclear whether personality traits or situational variables cause CWB or vice versa.
Why is trait-based causality inference in CWB research questionable, according to recent studies?
Recent research suggests that significant work events can change one’s personality, challenging the assumption that personality is stable and unchanging in response to CWB.
What did Meier & Spector (2013) find in their 5-wave longitudinal study regarding job stress and CWB?
They found a reciprocal relationship between job stress and CWB, indicating that each can influence the other over time.
How do organizations implement CWB research in personnel selection?
- use of personality tests
- use of situational judgement tests
How can organizations change their enviroment based on CWB research?
- create favorable working conditions
- providing employees with different and challenging tasks
- reducing their job demands
- assuring that they have sufficient time to complete their tasks
- guaranteeing a calm and relaxed working environment
- enhancing justice
- ethical leadership
