The interplay of low identification, psychological detachment, and cynicism for predicting counterproductive work behaviour

Prior research suggests that psychological detachment buffers the detrimental effects of negative work events and stressors on employees’ subsequent performance and well-being. This, however, assumes that employees are motivated to reengage in their work following detachment, which may not always be...

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Main Authors: Tong, Jiajin, Chong, SinHui, Chen, Jiayu, Johnson, Russell E., Ren, Xiaopeng
Other Authors: Nanyang Business School
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2020
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/142905
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1429052023-05-19T07:31:16Z The interplay of low identification, psychological detachment, and cynicism for predicting counterproductive work behaviour Tong, Jiajin Chong, SinHui Chen, Jiayu Johnson, Russell E. Ren, Xiaopeng Nanyang Business School Business::Management Psychological Detachment Counterproductive Work Behavior Prior research suggests that psychological detachment buffers the detrimental effects of negative work events and stressors on employees’ subsequent performance and well-being. This, however, assumes that employees are motivated to reengage in their work following detachment, which may not always be true. Our paper examines the potential dark side of psychological detachment by exploring its moderating effects on the relationship of low organisational identification with counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) via cynicism toward work. Based on self-discrepancy theory, we argue that detachment strengthens the link from low identification to cynicism because it reinforces the psychological distance of lowly identified employees with the organisation and provides them with additional resources to more deeply reflect on their mismatch with their organisation, thus generating stronger feelings of doubt and distrust that characterise cynicism. We also hypothesise that detachment strengthens the relation from cynicism to CWB, because detachment reinforces personal separation from work in cynical employees and because cynical employees may leverage their replenished resources to fuel deviant acts. Multi-wave data collected from two field samples support our hypotheses. We discuss the implications of our study and propose future research directions. Accepted version 2020-07-08T02:26:18Z 2020-07-08T02:26:18Z 2019 Journal Article Tong, J., Chong, S., Chen, J., Johnson, R. E., & Ren, X. (2020). The interplay of low identification, psychological detachment, and cynicism for predicting counterproductive work behaviour. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 69(1), 59-92. doi:10.1111/apps.12187 0269-994X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/142905 10.1111/apps.12187 2-s2.0-85062514640 1 69 59 92 en Applied Psychology: An International Review © 2019 International Association of Applied Psychology. All rights reserved. This paper was published by Wiley in Applied Psychology: An International Review and is made available with permission of International Association of Applied Psychology. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Business::Management
Psychological Detachment
Counterproductive Work Behavior
spellingShingle Business::Management
Psychological Detachment
Counterproductive Work Behavior
Tong, Jiajin
Chong, SinHui
Chen, Jiayu
Johnson, Russell E.
Ren, Xiaopeng
The interplay of low identification, psychological detachment, and cynicism for predicting counterproductive work behaviour
description Prior research suggests that psychological detachment buffers the detrimental effects of negative work events and stressors on employees’ subsequent performance and well-being. This, however, assumes that employees are motivated to reengage in their work following detachment, which may not always be true. Our paper examines the potential dark side of psychological detachment by exploring its moderating effects on the relationship of low organisational identification with counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) via cynicism toward work. Based on self-discrepancy theory, we argue that detachment strengthens the link from low identification to cynicism because it reinforces the psychological distance of lowly identified employees with the organisation and provides them with additional resources to more deeply reflect on their mismatch with their organisation, thus generating stronger feelings of doubt and distrust that characterise cynicism. We also hypothesise that detachment strengthens the relation from cynicism to CWB, because detachment reinforces personal separation from work in cynical employees and because cynical employees may leverage their replenished resources to fuel deviant acts. Multi-wave data collected from two field samples support our hypotheses. We discuss the implications of our study and propose future research directions.
author2 Nanyang Business School
author_facet Nanyang Business School
Tong, Jiajin
Chong, SinHui
Chen, Jiayu
Johnson, Russell E.
Ren, Xiaopeng
format Article
author Tong, Jiajin
Chong, SinHui
Chen, Jiayu
Johnson, Russell E.
Ren, Xiaopeng
author_sort Tong, Jiajin
title The interplay of low identification, psychological detachment, and cynicism for predicting counterproductive work behaviour
title_short The interplay of low identification, psychological detachment, and cynicism for predicting counterproductive work behaviour
title_full The interplay of low identification, psychological detachment, and cynicism for predicting counterproductive work behaviour
title_fullStr The interplay of low identification, psychological detachment, and cynicism for predicting counterproductive work behaviour
title_full_unstemmed The interplay of low identification, psychological detachment, and cynicism for predicting counterproductive work behaviour
title_sort interplay of low identification, psychological detachment, and cynicism for predicting counterproductive work behaviour
publishDate 2020
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/142905
_version_ 1772825880355143680