Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB)
- LAST REVIEWED: 14 December 2022
- LAST MODIFIED: 24 May 2018
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0143
- LAST REVIEWED: 14 December 2022
- LAST MODIFIED: 24 May 2018
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0143
Introduction
Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) refers to employee voluntary behaviors that harm organizations (CWB-O) or people working in the organizations (CWB-P). Example behaviors of CWB include destroying company property, calling in sick when not ill, insulting another employee, and stealing something from the employer. CWB is very prevalent in the workplace and costs organizations billions of dollars annually. Given the detrimental effects of CWB in the workplace, a great deal of research has been conducted to examine its dimensions, measurement, predictors, and relationships with other employee voluntary behaviors (e.g., organizational citizenship behavior). The levels of examination of CWB also extended from between-person relationships to within-person designs and meta-analyses. This phenomenon has received research attention from researchers across the world.
General Overview
A number of reviews and meta-analyses have been published about CWB. Martinko, et al. 2002 integrates a few different perspectives to predict CWB and proposes a causal reasoning framework that highlights the importance of individuals’ attribution. Hershcovis, et al. 2007, a meta-analysis, reports multiple individual difference and various situational factors as predictors of CWB-P (people) and CWB-O (organization), respectively. Berry, et al. 2007, a meta-analysis, finds similarities and differences on relationships of CWB-O and CWB-P with situational and personality predictors. Barling, et al. 2009 reviews existing studies linking various demographic and individual difference variables as predictors of CWB. Dalal 2005 discusses potential confounds that might affect the observed counterproductive work behavior–organizational citizenship behavior (CWB-OCB) relationship, and summarizes relationships of CWB and OCB with their antecedents. Marcus, et al. 2016 uses a structural meta-analysis and an empirical study to examine the internal structure of CWB.
Barling, Julian, Kathryne E. Dupré, and E. Kevin Kelloway. “Predicting Workplace Aggression and Violence.” Annual Review of Psychology 60 (2009): 671–692.
DOI: 10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163629
The authors reviewed empirical evidence on nine common myths about the predictors of workplace aggression (CWB). Specifically, there were consistent relationships between personality variables and workplace aggression (CWB), but workplace experiences also explained the variance of workplace aggression (CWB).
Berry, Christopher M., Deniz S. Ones, and Paul R. Sackett. “Interpersonal Deviance, Organizational Deviance, and Their Common Correlates: A Review and Meta-analysis.” Journal of Applied Psychology 92.2 (2007): 410–424.
DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.92.2.410
This meta-analysis found that CWB-P and CWB-O were strongly related, and they had similar relationships with age, emotional stability, openness to experience, and procedural justice. However, CWB-P was more strongly related to agreeableness, and CWB-O was more strongly related to conscientiousness. Organizational citizenship behavior was more related to CWB-O than CWB-P.
Dalal, Reeshad S. “A Meta-analysis of the Relationship between Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Counterproductive Work Behavior.” Journal of Applied Psychology 90.6 (2005): 1241–1255.
DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.90.6.1241
This meta-analysis was conducted to clarify the inconsistent findings on the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and CWB. While there was a modest negative relationship between OCB and CWB, the relationship was moderated by source of ratings (self or supervisor), presence of antithetical items (dysfunctional behaviors as reversed coded OCB items), and type of response options (agreement or frequency).
Hershcovis, M. Sandy, Nick Turner, Julian Barling, et al. “Predicting Workplace Aggression: A Meta-analysis.” Journal of Applied Psychology 92.1 (2007): 228–238.
DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.92.1.228
In this meta-analysis, the authors found that trait anger and interpersonal conflict were strongest predictors of CWB-P, while interpersonal conflict, situational constraints, and job dissatisfaction were strongest predictors of CWB-O. Among individual difference variables, gender and trait anger were stronger predictors of CWB-P than of CWB-O; among situational predictors, interpersonal conflict was a stronger predictor of CWB-P, while job dissatisfaction and situational constraints were stronger predictors of CWB-O.
Marcus, Bernd, O. Anita Taylor, Stephanie E. Hastings, Alexandra Sturm, and Oliver Weigelt. “The Structure of Counterproductive Work Behavior: A Review, a Structural Meta-analysis, and a Primary Study.” Journal of Management 42.1 (2016): 203–233.
The authors first conducted a meta-analysis and found that a reflective higher-order factor model fitted the data the best. In a second study, confirmatory factor analysis results revealed that the best fit was a bimodal (nonhierarchical) model in which individual CWBs simultaneously load on one of the eleven facets describing their content and on one of three factors describing the target primarily harmed (organization, other persons, self).
Martinko, Mark J., Michael J. Gundlach, and Scott C. Douglas. “Toward an Integrative Theory of Counterproductive Workplace Behavior: A Causal Reasoning Perspective.” International Journal of Selection and Assessment 10.1–2 (2002): 36–50.
In this review, the authors integrated several theories that were developed to explain and understand the process of CWB. By doing so, the authors developed a causal reasoning framework in which they proposed that individuals’ attribution about the causal dimensions of workplace events is the primary driving factor of emotions and behaviors, and subsequent CWB.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Abusive Supervision
- Adverse Impact and Equal Employment Opportunity Analytics
- Alliance Portfolios
- Alternative Work Arrangements
- Applied Political Risk Analysis
- Approaches to Social Responsibility
- Assessment Centers: Theory, Practice and Research
- Attitudes
- Attributions
- Authentic Leadership
- Automation
- Bayesian Statistics
- Behavior, Organizational
- Behavioral Approach to Leadership
- Behavioral Theory of the Firm
- Benefits
- Between Organizations, Social Networks in and
- Brokerage in Networks
- Business and Human Rights
- Career Studies
- Career Transitions and Job Mobility
- Certified B Corporations and Benefit Corporations
- Charismatic and Innovative Team Leadership By and For Mill...
- Charismatic and Transformational Leadership
- Compensation, Rewards, Remuneration
- Competitive Dynamics
- Competitive Heterogeneity
- Computational Modeling
- Conditional Reasoning
- Conflict Management
- Considerate Leadership
- Corporate Philanthropy
- Corporate Social Performance
- Corporate Venture Capital
- Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB)
- Creativity
- Cross-Cultural Communication
- Cross-Cultural Management
- Cultural Intelligence
- Culture, Organization
- Data Analytic Methods
- Decision Making
- Diversity
- Dynamic Capabilities
- Emotional Labor
- Employee Aging
- Employee Engagement
- Employee Ownership
- Employee Voice
- Empowerment, Psychological
- Entrepreneurial Firms
- Entrepreneurial Orientation
- Entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurship, Corporate
- Entrepreneurship, Women’s
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- Ethics
- Faking in Personnel Selection
- Family Business, Managing
- Feedback
- Financial Markets in Organization Theory and Economic Soci...
- Findings, Reporting Research
- Firm Bribery
- Fit, Person-Environment
- Forecasting
- Global Leadership
- Global Talent Management
- Goal Setting
- Grounded Theory
- Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions
- Human Capital Resource Pipelines
- Human Resource Management
- Human Resource Management, Strategic
- Human Resources, Global
- Human Rights
- Humanitarian Work Psychology
- Humility in Management
- Impression Management at Work
- Imprinting
- Influence Strategies/Tactics in the Workplace
- Information Economics
- Innovative Behavior
- Intelligence, Emotional
- International Economic Development and SMEs
- International Economic Systems
- International Strategic Alliances
- Job Analysis and Competency Modeling
- Job Crafting
- Job Design
- Job Satisfaction
- Judgment and Decision Making in Teams
- Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration within and across Firm...
- Leader-Member Exchange
- Leadership Development
- Leadership Development and Organizational Change, Coaching...
- Leadership, Ethical
- Leadership, Global and Comparative
- Leadership, Strategic
- Learning by Doing in Organizational Activities
- Licensing
- Management History
- Management In Antiquity
- Managerial Discretion
- Meaningful Work
- Mentoring
- Multinational Corporations and Emerging Markets
- Neo-institutional Theory
- Neuroscience, Organizational
- New Ventures
- Organization Design, Global
- Organization Development and Change
- Organization Research, Ethnography in
- Organization Theory
- Organizational Adaptation
- Organizational Ambidexterity
- Organizational Behavior, Emotions in
- Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs)
- Organizational Climate
- Organizational Control
- Organizational Corruption
- Organizational Hybridity
- Organizational Identity
- Organizational Justice
- Organizational Legitimacy
- Organizational Networks
- Organizational Paradox
- Organizational Performance, Personality Theory and
- Organizational Responsibility
- Organizational Surveys, Driving Change Through
- Organizations, Big Data in
- Organizations, Gender in
- Organizations, Identity Work in
- Organizations, Political Ideology in
- Organizations, Social Identity Processes in
- Overqualification
- Passion
- Paternalistic Leadership
- Pay for Skills, Knowledge, and Competencies
- People Analytics
- Performance Appraisal
- Performance Feedback Theory
- Planning And Goal Setting
- Proactive Work Behavior
- Psychological Contracts
- Psychological Safety
- Real Options Theory
- Recruitment
- Regional Entrepreneurship
- Reputation, Organizational Image and
- Research, Ethics in
- Research, Longitudinal
- Research Methods
- Research Methods, Qualitative
- Resource Redeployment
- Resource-Dependence Theory
- Resources
- Response Surface Analysis, Polynomial Regression and
- Role of Time in Organizational Studies
- Safety, Work Place
- Selection
- Selection, Applicant Reactions to
- Self-Determination Theory for Work Motivation
- Self-Efficacy
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy In Management
- Self-Management and Personal Agency
- Sensemaking in and around Organizations
- Service Management
- Shared Team Leadership
- Social Cognitive Theory
- Social Evaluation: Status and Reputation
- Social Movement Theory
- Social Ties and Network Structure
- Socialization
- Spin-Outs
- Sports Settings in Management Research
- Stakeholders
- Status in Organizations
- Strategic Alliances
- Strategic Human Capital
- Strategy
- Strategy and Cognition
- Strategy Implementation
- Stress
- Structural Contingency Theory/Information Processing Theor...
- Team Composition
- Team Conflict
- Team Design Characteristics
- Team Learning
- Team Mental Models
- Team Newcomers
- Team Processes
- Teams, Global
- Technology and Innovation Management
- Technology, Organizational Assessment and
- the Workplace, Millennials in
- Theory X and Theory Y
- Time and Motion Studies
- Training and Development
- Training Evaluation
- Trust in Organizational Contexts
- Turnover
- Unobtrusive Measures
- Validity
- Virtual Teams
- Whistle-Blowing
- Work and Family: An Organizational Science Overview
- Work Contexts, Nonverbal Communication in
- Work, Mindfulness at
- Workplace Aggression and Violence
- Workplace Coaching
- Workplace Commitment
- Workplace Gossip
- Workplace Meetings
- Workplace, Spiritual Leadership in the
- World War II, Management Research during