Predicting counterproductive work behavior: Do implicit motives have incremental validity beyond explicit traits?

• Main Authors: RUNGE, J. Malte, LANG, Jonas W. B., ZETTLER, Ingo, LIEVENS, Filip
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2020
• Subjects: Counterproductive work behavior; Implicit motives; Personality traits; Industrial and Organizational Psychology; Organizational Behavior and Theory
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6617; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/7616/viewcontent/Predicting_CPW_sv.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This study extends research on the link between personality and Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB) by investigating whether the implicit Affiliation, Achievement, and Power motives contribute to the prediction of CWB beyond basic personality traits. Employees high in Affiliation, Achievement, and Power motives may disengage from CWB because it is not rewarding and thwarts goal attainment. In Study 1 (N = 263), we found that Affiliation predicted self-rated CWB beyond traits. In Study 2 (N = 121), we found that Affiliation and Power predicted supervisor-rated CWB. Our findings thus suggest to also consider implicit motives as personality determinants of CWB.