Relationships between counterproductive work behavior, perceived justice and climate, occupational status, and leader-member exchange

Abstract

The present work used Social Exchange Theory as a framework for understanding Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB). We sought to contribute to the existing body of knowledge by examining psychologically experienced organizational distributive justice and climate as predictors of counterproductive workplace behavior, while exploring whether immediate job and exchange characteristics – employee occupational level and leader-member exchange – can clarify these associations. Two studies were conducted in different organizations respectively: (1) a governmental electricity company and (2) a private company specializing in electronic device commerce. The results supported the hypotheses and indicated negative relationships between perceived organizational distributive justice, overall and ethical climates, and CWB. Importantly, the quality of perceived leader-member exchange and employee's occupational level were found to moderate the relationship between perceived distributional justice and organizational ethical climate (respectively) and counterproductive work behavior.