The Role of Personality and Job Stressors in Predicting Counterproductive Work Behavior: A three-way interaction

The current study examined interactive effects among personality and job stressors in predicting employees' engagement in counterproductive work behavior (CWB) defined as behavior that harms organizations or people in organizations. Survey data were collected from 932 employees and results showed significant negative relationships of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability with CWB directed at organizations (CWB-O) and people (CWB-P), and significant positive relationships of interpersonal conflict and organizational constraints with CWB-O and CWB-P. Further, it was found that the positive relationships of interpersonal conflict with CWB-O and CWB-P were strongest for people of low emotional stability-low agreeableness among all emotional stability-agreeableness combinations, and that the positive relationships of organizational constraints with CWB-O and CWB-P were strongest for people of high emotional stability-low conscientiousness among all emotional stability-conscientiousness combinations.