Does CWB Repair Negative Affective States, or Generate Them? Examining the Moderating Role of Trait Empathy

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Koopman, Joel; Conway, James M.; Dimotakis, Nikolaos; Tepper, Bennett J.; Lee, Young Eun; Rogelberg, Steven G.; Lount, Robert B.
• 署名单位: Texas A&M University System; Texas A&M University College Station; Connecticut State University System; Central Connecticut State University; Oklahoma State University System; Oklahoma State University - Stillwater; University System of Ohio; Ohio State University; University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Charlotte
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/apl0000837
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 1493-1516
• 关键词: COUNTERPRODUCTIVE WORK BEHAVIOR; negative affect; experience sampling; empathy

摘要

Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) is a topic of considerable importance for organizational scholars and practitioners. Yet, despite a wide-ranging consensus that negative affect (NA) is a precursor to CWB, there is surprisingly little consensus as to whether CWB enactment will subsequently lead to lower or higher levels of NA. That is, scholars disagree as to whether CWB has a reparative (negative) or generative (positive) effect on subsequent NA. We submit that both perspectives have validity, and thus the question should not be whether CWB is associated with lower or higher subsequent levels of NA, but rather for whom. This article is dedicated to answering this question. Drawing from the behavioral concordance model, we position empathy as a moderator of this relationship, such that CWB will be reparative for those with lower levels of empathy and generative for those with higher levels of empathy. Findings across 3 experience-sampling studies support our hypotheses and highlight a number of interesting directions for future research.