Shifting between counterproductive work behavior and organizational citizenship behavior: The effects of workplace support and engagement

Abstract

Organizational behavior studies have noted the positive effects of perceived support and employees’ engagement towards the overall institutional performance. However, recent studies suggest that both the positive organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and the negative counterproductive work behavior (CWB) are also highly affected by job engagement. In the academic setting, maintaining a well-balanced work place is highly important. Recent studies in Taiwan have noted the moderate occurrence of CWBs within the academic setting; as students are greatly influenced by their teachers, it is imperative that CWBs be kept to a minimum. In light of the above-mentioned issues, the current study shall present the findings in determining the inter-relationships between perceived support (PS), job engagement (JE), OCB, and CWB Taiwan (CWB-T) model. Participants are 1,074 teachers from Taiwan. Structured equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyze the proposed mediation model. Instrument used are Hu, Hung, and Ching’s (2015) CWB Taiwan scale , Eisenberger, Stinglhamber, Vandenberghe, Sucharski, and Rhoades’ (2002) perceived support , Saks’ (2006) job engagement , and Lee and Allen’s (2002) organizational citizenship behavior . Lastly, findings suggest that job engagement seem to provide a negative effect on CWB-T, while at the same time provide a positive effect on OCB. In sum, appropriate organizational support is much needed in order to enhance workplace engagement. It is hoped that by pin-pointing the various determinants of CWBs, a clear understanding of the inter-relationships among the factors can be establish.