Innovations in human resource management: impact of demographic characteristics, quality of interpersonal relationships on counterproductive work behaviours

Dawid Szostek

doi:10.21272/mmi.2021.1-01

Abstract

This paper describes the selected demographic characteristics as moderators of the impact of the quality of interpersonal relationships at work on counterproductive work behaviours. The main purposes of the research are describing: 1) how interpersonal relationships at work influences the intensity of counterproductive work behaviours; 2) how sex, age, education, length of service and type of job moderate the influence of interpersonal relationships at work on counterproductive work behaviours; 3) how the above-mentioned demographic characteristics influence interpersonal relationships at work and counterproductive work behaviours separately. The studies on the literature indicated that there were no comprehensive research results concerning those problems. The research paper fills a gap in the literature relating to the impact of interpersonal relationships at work on counterproductive work behaviours and the relation to modelling this impact by demographic characteristics of employees (sex, age, education, length of service, type of job). To achieve the study purposes, the author conducted a survey conducted on a sample of 1336 active employees in Poland. The survey period was 2018-2019. The IBM SPSS Statistics and IBM SPSS Amos were used to analyze data. Based on Structural Equation Modelling, it was that:1) interpersonal relationships at work negatively impacted on the intensity of counterproductive work behaviours against another individual; 2) the strength of influence of interpersonal relationships at work on counterproductive work behaviours did not change relevantly in modelling with selected demographic characteristics (sex, age, education, length of service, type of job); 3) only education, current kind of job and service length had a relevant influence on interpersonal relationships at work and counterproductive work behaviours. The research results could be useful for managers. In their activities, managers should systematically monitor interpersonal relationships at work and counterproductive work behaviours taking into account employees' demographic characteristics. In this process, managers should pay particular attention to education, type of current job, and service length.

Highlights

The quality of interpersonal relationships at work (QR) determines employees' behaviours both at work and in private life (Allen and Eby, 2012; Dutton, 2012)
IBM SPSS Amos application limited the analysis in the case of counterproductive work behaviours (CWB) to the individual dimension of the behaviours (CWB-I) (Fig. 1 and Table 4)
The analysis showed that the higher the level of education of an employee, the lower intensity of CWBO and the higher intensity of CWB-I

Summary

Introduction

The quality of interpersonal relationships at work (QR) determines employees' behaviours both at work and in private life (Allen and Eby, 2012; Dutton, 2012). Research relating to moderation of the influence of CWB on QIRW by such important demographic variables as sex, age, education, length of service and type of job is even more fragmentary These determinants are one of the most frequently considered in the personnel management literature (Tschan et al, 2004; Bowler and Brass, 2006; LePine et al, 2012; Chmelewska, 2012; Lu et al, 2020). Szostek (2019) proposed four categories of the quality of interpersonal relationships at work as follows: 1) organizational atmosphere (e.g. atmosphere at work, trust, the way of mutual treatment, showing positive emotions); 2) interpersonal bonds (e.g. talking about private life, after-work meetings, helping behaviours, celebrating important occasions at work); 3) interpersonal relationships building methods (e.g. ensuring good conditions at work, regular meetings of the staff, employee opinion surveys, corporate events for employees); 4) distance resulting from management style (e.g. fair treatment by a supervisor, «human approach» towards subordinates, private contacts with the supervisor after work).

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Results

Conclusions