Risk propensity as a common antecedent for OCBs and CWBs

Abstract

Although organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) are traditionally conceptualized as opposite ends of the contextual performance spectrum, emergent research suggests that they may derive from similar psychological processes. In this paper, we conceptualize OCBs and CWBs as manifestations of risk taking at work and argue that individual differences in risk propensity may serve as a common antecedent to both outcomes. In a three-wave panel survey study of working adults (n = 244), we found that risk propensity positively predicted both OCBs and CWBs targeted at organizations, but not individuals. Using an item-level approach, we also found that the predictive validity of risk propensity was stronger for behaviors that external raters judged as more (vs. less) risky. Finally, we found the association between risk propensity and CWBs was moderated by individual differences in self-monitoring, where the positive association was weakened for people high on self-monitoring. Taken together, our findings suggest that risk-seeking employees may simultaneously be an asset and a liability, but risk-seekers who are also high on self-monitoring are less likely to engage in counterproductive behaviors.