Nonresponse in Employee Attitude Surveys: A Group-Level Analysis

Purpose

Given the common practice of using employee attitude surveys as a group-level intervention, this study used a group-level approach to examine the relationship between group satisfaction and group nonresponse.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Samples from four large organizations enabled job satisfaction scores to be aggregated to the work group level and correlated with group-level response rates. Additional regression analysis was conducted to control for a number of confounding variables at the group level.

Findings

Aggregate job satisfaction showed significant associations with group-level response rates across each of the samples examined. Work groups with higher aggregate job satisfaction had significantly higher response rates. Regression analyses showed that, in addition to job satisfaction, work group size, heterogeneity in tenure, and heterogeneity in gender composition all had significant effects on response rates.

Implications

Social influence processes may operate at the group level to increase homogeneity of job-relevant attitudes and similarity in survey response behavior. Future research should be designed to investigate the effects of group-level variables on nonresponse.

Originality/Value

The current study adds to the literature by demonstrating that work group variables may play an important role in explaining nonresponse in employee attitude surveys. Because the processes underlying survey response are likely to be different at different levels of analysis, the investigation of nonresponse as a group-level phenomenon creates new opportunities for research and practice.     

Reactions to Recruitment Web Sites: Visual and Verbal Attention, Attraction, and Intentions to Pursue Employment

Purpose

We investigate job seeker visual and verbal attention, and perceptions regarding company web sites in the applicant generation phase of recruitment.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We report three studies using varied methodological approaches including eye-tracking, verbal protocol analysis (VPA), and survey data.

Findings

Eye-tracking results suggest Web-based job seekers focus visual attention on information containing hyperlinks and on text more than graphic images or navigation tools. VPA suggests Web-based job seekers focus verbal attention on content more than design, especially job opening information. Survey results suggest content, design, and communication features are all related to applicant attraction. Design explains the most incremental variance in web site evaluation, while perceptions of communication features explain the most incremental variance in attitude toward the organization and intentions to pursue employment.

Implications

We provide multi-method evidence concerning features that attract applicant visual and verbal attention, and influence attraction and intentions to pursue employment. The findings also provide practical implications for designing recruitment web sites.

Originality/Value

We report three methodologically distinct perspectives on an important and timely issue: Web-based recruitment. We are aware of no other psychomotor eye-tracking studies in the recruitment literature, and only one other VPA. Combining multiple methods in this way provides unique perspective.     

The Impact of Applicant Faking on Selection Measures,Hiring Decisions,and Employee Performance

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of applicant faking and its impact on the psychometric properties of the selection measure, the quality of hiring decisions, and employee performance.

Design/Methodology/Approach

This study utilized a within-subjects design where responses on a self-report measure were obtained for 162 individuals both when they applied for a pharmaceutical sales position, and after they were hired. Training performance data was collected at the completion of sales training and sales data was collected 5 months later.

Findings

Applicant faking was a common occurrence, with approximately half of the individuals being classified as a faker on at least one of the dimensions contained in the self-report measure. In addition, faking was found to negatively impact the psychometric properties of the selection measure, as well as the quality of potential hiring decisions made by the organization. Further, fakers exhibited lower levels of performance than non-fakers.

Implications

These findings indicate that past conclusions that applicant faking is either uncommon or does not negatively impact the selection system and/or organizational performance may be unwarranted.

Originality/Value

Remarkably few studies have examined applicant faking using a within-subjects design using actual job applicants, which has limited our understanding of applicant faking. Even fewer studies have attempted to link faking to criterion data to evaluate the impact of faking on employee performance. By utilizing this design and setting, the present study provides a unique glimpse into both the prevalence of faking and the significant impact faking can have on organizations.     

Deleterious Consequences of Change in Newcomers’ Employer-Based Psychological Contract Obligations

Purpose

This study examines the issue of change in newcomers’ employer-based psychological contract obligations over time, viewing change as a potentially important determinant of perceived contract breach and subsequent employee attitudes and behaviors.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected using a three-wave longitudinal design from newly hired faculty members (N = 106).

Findings

Newcomers’ perceptions of employer-based relational obligations significantly decreased during their first year on the job. Newcomers reacted negatively to these changes, subsequently reporting increased contract breach and more negative work attitudes (i.e., increased turnover intentions and reduced job satisfaction and organizational loyalty).

Implications

This study provides evidence of the negative effects of perceived changes to a newcomer’s psychological contract. Practitioners should implement interventions to ensure a realistic set of psychological contract obligations are developed from the start in order to minimize the likelihood that newcomers will modify these obligations downward; and, therefore, experience these negative attitudes toward the organization.

Originality/Value

Drawing from the realistic job preview and socialization literatures, this study examines a topic that has received little empirical attention in the extant psychological contract research, yet has important implications to the management of employees’ psychological contracts. Using both a three-wave longitudinal field design and a more rigorous statistical analysis for assessing change (i.e., latent growth curve modeling), we add a unique contribution to the extant research by identifying the negative consequences of psychological contract change on newcomers’ subsequent work perceptions and attitudes.     

The Impact of Managerial Coaching Behavior on Employee Work-Related Reactions

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between perceived managerial coaching behavior and employee work-related outcomes.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected from 482 employees in a Korean public organization. The collected data were analyzed by structural equation modeling with a two-step approach.

Findings

The hypothesized conceptual model was adequately supported by the sample data. Further investigations suggested managerial coaching, which had a direct impact on employee satisfaction with work and role clarity and an indirect impact on satisfaction with work, career commitment, organization commitment, and job performance.

Implications

Findings provide empirical support to the hypothesized conceptual model of managerial coaching outcomes in organizations. Study findings offer evidence regarding prospective, but unexamined, benefits of managerial coaching. Such knowledge can be also used by practitioners for selecting and developing effective managers and leaders and understanding and managing employee attitudes and behaviors in organizations.

Originality/Value

This article is one of the first studies to provide evidence for the influence of managerial coaching behavior on employee role cognition, work attitudes, and performance. Since there is no commonly acknowledged theory or conceptual model for managerial coaching outcomes, this finding of the current hypothesized model can notably contribute to the research on managerial coaching. Furthermore, to date, no study of managerial coaching in Asian cultural contexts has been identified.     

The Role of Attributions and Fairness in Understanding Job Applicant Reactions to Selection Procedures and Decisions

Purpose

Drawing mainly upon Applicant Attribution-Reaction Theory (AART), we clarify and underscore the role of attribution dimensions (personal control, external control, and stability) in forming applicant fairness perceptions, attitudes, and behavioral reactions.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Students seeking (or about to seek) jobs (N = 264) participated in an experimental study in which procedural justice rules and outcome favorability (selected or rejected) were manipulated. Participants reported their attributions, fairness perceptions, and behavioral intentions. Hypotheses were tested through SEM and bootstrapping.

Findings

Applicant attributions were predicted by outcome favorability and the extent to which the interview process satisfied/violated procedural justice rules. In line with AART, process fairness perceptions mediated relationships between applicant attribution dimensions and both organizational perceptions and behavioral intentions.

Implications

Organizations should satisfy justice rules in employee selection processes because such rules affect applicant attributions, which in turn predict perceptions and behavioral intentions. In addition to identifying antecedents and consequences of fairness perceptions, antecedents and consequences of applicant attributions should be investigated, as both relate to important organizational outcomes.

Originality/Value

This study is one of a very few to test propositions from AART. Through an experimental design of high internal validity, we show that outcome favorability and the satisfaction/violation of justice rules predict job applicant attributions (personal control, external control, and stability). We further show that applicants’ attributions explain unique variance in their perceptions of the employing organization and in their behavioral intentions (e.g., recommend organization to others; litigate) beyond that explained by selection outcome and fairness perceptions.     

Differential Effects of Task Performance,Organizational Citizenship Behavior,and Job Complexity on Voluntary Turnover

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance–turnover relationship by considering the effects of task performance and OCBs simultaneously while also examining the moderating effect job complexity has on the relationship between voluntary turnover and each type of performance.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained as part of a larger study to validate an employment test, in which actual turnover data and supervisory ratings of job performance were collected for employees in two hospitals (n = 782).

Findings

Task performance exhibited a curvilinear relationship with turnover, while OCB exhibited a negative linear relationship with turnover. Job complexity moderated both of these relationships. For task performance, turnover in high-complexity jobs was greater for low performers but lower for high performers relative to that of employees in low-complexity jobs. For OCB, the negative relationship with turnover was more pronounced in high-complexity jobs.

Implications

Both low- and high-task performers are more likely to turnover, while employees exhibiting high OCBs are less likely to turnover. These results imply that retention strategies are critical for top performers, but especially in high-complexity jobs. Organizations may be able to discourage voluntary turnover by creating conditions that stimulate OCB, particularly in highly complex jobs.

Originality/Value

Most prior performance–turnover relationship research used unidimensional measures of performance, whereas this study included two dimensions of performance and examined this relationship while controlling for one-performance dimension when predicting the other. Furthermore, this study is one of the first studies to suggest that job complexity moderates the performance–turnover relationship.

     

Proactive Responding to Anticipated Discrimination Based on Chronic Illness: Double-Edged Sword?

Purpose

Proactive strategies for avoiding stigmatization may prevent work-related discrimination (Singletary and Hebl J Appl Psychol 94:797–805, 2009), yet these strategies may also cause strain in the stigmatized. We tested a model in which previous workplace discrimination experiences and anticipated future workplace discrimination related to proactive responses (compensatory behaviors and concealing behaviors), which, in turn, related to job tension.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Survey data were obtained from 332 workers with chronic illnesses. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed relationships.

Findings

Perceived previous discrimination directly related to anticipated future discrimination and indirectly related to compensatory and concealing behaviors. Anticipated discrimination directly related to compensatory and concealing behaviors, and indirectly related to job tension through compensatory behaviors. Compensatory behaviors were, but concealing behaviors were not, related to job tension.

Implications

Workers with chronic illness should be educated on ways to mitigate the negative effects of compensatory behaviors, including ensuring adequate opportunities to replenish resources. Organizations should provide assistance to these workers through Employee Assistance Programs or other types of job counseling. Organization leaders and supervisors have a responsibility to build an environment of acceptance for those with chronic illness in order to reduce potential discrimination.

Originality/Value

While proactive strategies are effective in reducing negative outcomes of stigmatization, little research has explored their potential downsides. We highlight the “double-edged sword” nature of compensatory behaviors. In addition, while a large proportion of U.S. workers are managing chronic illness, this population is understudied.     

Disaggregating Job Satisfaction: Effects of Perceived Demands,Control, and Support

Purpose

Our purpose was to inductively examine how employees’ perceptions of stressor and resource work characteristics relate to nine distinct facets of job satisfaction, in accordance with the demand–control (–support) [JDC(S)] theory. Job satisfaction is a multidimensional construct composed of various facets that differ greatly from one other. However, most stress studies have examined job satisfaction at the global level. This may be problematic for managers looking to redesign the workplace to increase employee job satisfaction based on established recommendations from previous research.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained from employees of a public sector human services organization that provides services to protect children from neglect and other forms of abuse (n = 343). A series of t tests for dependent correlations determined facet-level differences in satisfaction with demand and resource work characteristics.

Findings

We found different patterns of correlations across facets for all seven demand, control, and support workplace characteristics.

Implications

Those re-balancing types of demands, control, and support for workplace redesign should not presume consistent effects on all aspects of satisfaction with work. By doing so, expected positive outcomes may fail to materialize, perhaps to the detriment of workplace redesign as a whole in the minds of management. A more detailed approach to workplace redesign is recommended.

Originality/Value

This is the first study which adopts the JDC(S) framework to examine job satisfaction at the facet level. Our findings shed new light on how workplace characteristics relate to different aspects of satisfaction.     

Relations of Interpersonal Unfairness with Counterproductive Work Behavior: The Moderating Role of Employee Self-Identity

Purpose

Following the job demands–resources model, this study investigated the role of self-identity, or how employees define themselves in relation to others, in the relations between interpersonal unfairness and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Self-identity, an important self-regulatory and resource-related variable, was proposed to moderate the unfairness–CWB relations.

Methodology

A sample of 361 Chinese airline industry employees completed measures of identity, interpersonal unfairness, and CWB directed at people or the organization. We conducted a series of moderated regression analyses to test the hypotheses.

Findings

We found as expected relational identity (identity based on dyadic connection to another person) and collective identity (identity based on membership in a social group) buffered unfairness–CWB relations, such that positive relations were weaker when relational or collective identity was high (vs. low). Support was not found for the proposed moderation effect of individual identity (identity based on uniqueness from others) on unfairness–CWB relations. Supplementary relative weight analyses indicated that multiple identity levels and interactions between them accounted for considerable proportions of explained variance in CWB.

Implications

These findings suggest that different levels of employee identity seem to play different roles in the interpersonal unfairness–CWB relations, and it is important to continue studying employee identity profiles in the context of predicting CWB occurrences.

Originality/Value

This study not only advances our understanding of potential antecedents of CWB, but also underscores the importance of simultaneously studying all three levels of employee identity.     

Innovation and Effectiveness of Co-Founded Ventures: A Process Model

Purpose

We propose a process model relating innovative climates to effectiveness in co-founded ventures. Specifically, we argue that co-founders’ inputs relate to venture effectiveness via processes of team member exchange (TMX), team learning, and collective efficacy.

Design/Methodology/Approach

To study a population that is difficult to access, we use a computerized simulation in which 202 individuals act as new venture co-founders.

Findings

Results of our research support the hypothesized input-process-outcome model such that the intra-team processes of TMX, team learning, and collective efficacy fully mediate the relationship between the input of co-founding team climate for innovation and the outcome of co-founded venture effectiveness.

Implications

This study advances theory regarding processes that link team climates for innovation to collective outcomes. While we focus on this relationship in co-founded ventures, our findings have implications for team-level innovation research by clarifying how innovation relates to effectiveness. Beyond advancing theory, knowledge of this relationship may be of benefit to practice by identifying mediating mechanisms that can be reinforced in training and used as indicators of venture success by potential investors. Further, we contribute to the understanding of an important but understudied population of co-founded ventures and answer calls to utilize simulations to address team-based organizational questions.

Originality/Value

Our study answers calls to both clarify the processes that relate innovative climates to business outcomes and utilize computer simulations in organizational research while also addressing an important population of co-founded ventures that lacks a significant body of research.     

Impact of Organizational Identification and Psychological Safety on Initial Perceptions of Coworker Trustworthiness

Purpose

Initial trustworthiness perceptions serve as anchored reference points for subsequent trust perceptions and associated behavioral choices in organizations. Examining the relationship between the employee and the organization is an underexplored influence on such perceptions. This study is an investigation of how perceived psychological safety (PS) in the work environment and level of organizational identification (OI) influence initial perceptions of others?? trustworthiness.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained through survey and scenario methods from a sample of high-potential managers (n?=?155) during participation in a leadership development training course.

Findings

Results demonstrate that both disposition to trust and PS have positive relationships with initial perceptions of others?? trustworthiness. There is also a significant negative moderating effect of OI on the relationship between psychology safety and perceived trustworthiness. PS has a strong positive significant relationship with initial perceptions of others?? trustworthiness when OI is low. This relationship is non-significant when OI is high.

Implications

This study provides evidence that the relationship between the employee and the organization can influence individual perceptions of initial trustworthiness in others.

Originality/Value

Aspects of the relationship between the trustor and the organization have not previously been considered as influences on initial trustworthiness perceptions. PS, often investigated as a direct influence on learning and performance, has not been previously examined as a socialized influence on trustworthiness perceptions.     

Effects of Personalized Versus Generic Implementation of an Intra-Organizational Online Survey on Psychological Anonymity and Response Behavior: A Field Experiment

Purpose

In the present study, we sought to investigate the effects of online survey implementation strategies on perceived anonymity and employee response behavior in organizational surveys.

Design/Methodology/Approach

A field experiment was conducted to compare two commonly used online survey implementation strategies (N = 815). One group of employees received a personalized invitation to the survey and a log-in password, while the other group received a general invitation and did not have to provide a password.

Findings

The results showed that the applied implementation strategies had no substantial effects on perceived anonymity. Moreover, there were no significant effects on nonresponse or the responses of survey participants to closed-ended and open-ended survey questions.

Implications

The present study supposes that online surveys are not a uniform phenomenon and that differences in the implementation of online surveys need to be considered. However, the findings indicate that the use of specified-personalized implementation strategies does not necessarily lead to a substantial decrease in perceived anonymity or automatically result in reduced data quality. Thus, in many cases, the investigated online survey implementation strategies are unlikely to cause serious reductions in perceptions of anonymity and quality of responses to organizational online surveys.

Originality/Value

In spite of the frequent use of online surveys in organizations, little is known about the consequences of online implementation strategies for perceptions of anonymity and response behavior. This study is one of the few empirical examinations of the psychological consequences of different online implementation strategies frequently used in organizational surveying.     

Predictors of Occupational and Organizational Commitment in Information Technology: Exploring Gender Differences and Similarities

Purpose

Despite growing demand, the information technology (IT) field suffers from a labor shortage compounded by the underrepresentation of women in the IT field. This study examined predictors of occupational and organizational commitment outcomes among IT professionals and explored gender differences and similarities in the relative importance of predictors.

Design/Methodology/Approach

1,229 IT professionals provided web-based survey data, which were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling and relative weight analysis.

Findings

Satisfaction with growth opportunities, job security, job stress, and work–family culture generally were related to commitment outcomes as expected, accounting for the greatest variance in organizational commitment. Relative weights for men and women differed in the prediction of occupational commitment, where growth satisfaction and work–family culture were weighted more strongly by women and job stress was more strongly weighted by men. For organizational commitment, the relative weights among predictors were similar for men and women, except that men weighted job security more strongly than women.

Implications

Findings suggest that garnering commitment to the IT field requires a gender-specific approach, highlighting growth and work–family support for women and addressing job stress for men. Increasing organizational commitment for both men and women calls for an emphasis on opportunities for growth and development.

Originality/Value

This is the first study to simultaneously examine predictors for organizational and occupational commitment among IT professionals and to assess the relative importance of predictors discussed in the extant literature. Results inform efforts to increase retention in the IT field and provide guidance for improving the representation of women in IT.     

Proactive Personality at Work: Seeing More to Do and Doing More?

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a model relating proactive personality to job behaviors (task and citizenship behaviors) through the intervening mediator of perceived role breadth.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were obtained from 530 faculty members in 69 U. S. research universities.

Findings

Proactive personality was positively related to task behavior and OCB. Perceived role breadth mediated the relationship between proactive personality and OCB, but did not mediate the relationship between proactive personality and task behavior. Despite not viewing their role more broadly, individuals higher in proactive personality engaged more frequently in both task behavior and OCB; and also worked more hours per week.

Implications

Having a better understanding of proactive individuals is important in terms of managing them. Because these individuals tend to do more in their jobs and subsequently work more hours, they may be more susceptible to burnout and may require additional help in determining priorities and balancing their work and lives.

Originality/value

This is the first study to show that proactive personality is positively related to the frequency with which these individuals engage in task and citizenship behavior. Although role breadth is generally an antecedent of such job behaviors, individuals higher in proactive personality engage more frequently in task behaviors regardless of whether or not they perceive them as part of their role. This is one of the first studies to show that working more hours each week is a potential cost of having a proactive personality.     

Transformational and Transactional Leadership and Followers’ Achievement Goals

Purpose

Achievement goals, or the standards of competence employees pursue in their work, have far-reaching consequences for employee and organizational functioning. In the current research, we investigated whether employees’ achievement goals can be predicted from their supervisor’s leadership style.

Design/Methodology/Approach

A multilevel study was conducted in which followers of 120 organizational leaders completed measures of their leader’s transformational leadership (focusing on individual needs and abilities, on intellectual development, and on a common team mission), transactional leadership (focusing on monitoring and achievement-related rewards), and their own mastery goals (aimed at learning, developing, and mastering job-relevant skills), and performance goals (aimed at doing better than others).

Findings

Group-level transformational leadership predicted followers’ mastery goals, whereas group-level transactional leadership predicted followers’ performance goals. Within-group differences in transformational leadership also predicted mastery goals.

Implications

These findings suggest that leadership style plays an important role in the achievement goals followers adopt. Organizations may promote transactional leadership in contexts requiring that employees outperform others. In contrast, in contexts requiring learning and development, organizations may promote transformational leadership.

Originality/Value

This research is the first to examine the relationships between leadership styles and specific follower goals, and the first to highlight the role of leadership as a social variable involved in employees’ adoption of achievement goals.     

Employees’ Adaptability and Perceptions of Change-Related Uncertainty: Implications for Perceived Organizational Support,Job Satisfaction,and Performance

Purpose

The literature on organizational change has increasingly recognized that characteristics of change recipients influence their reactions to workplace change. Yet little is known about the influence of employees’ adaptability and change-related uncertainty on their interpretation of organizational actions. We examined these antecedents and the mediating role of perceived organizational support as explanations for employees’ job satisfaction and performance.

Design/Methodology/Approach

A survey was administered to material handling employees from two organizations. Employees completed measures of individual adaptability, uncertainty experienced regarding changes in the workplace, support received from the organization, and job satisfaction. Performance data were collected from the records of one organization.

Findings

Results from both samples support the role of perceived organizational support as a mediator of the relationship between employees’ adaptability and perceptions of change-related uncertainty and employees’ satisfaction and performance.

Implications

Change is a frequent occurrence in today’s workplace; thus, improving employee satisfaction and performance requires the consideration of change-related perceptions and individuals’ dispositions relevant to change. The present study offers insights regarding how organizations may help improve perceptions of organizational support by reducing perceived uncertainty as well as identifying employees who may need assistance to adapt to workplace changes.

Originality/Value

Despite practitioners’ expressed interest, there is scant research examining employees’ adaptability and change-related uncertainty. We provide the first evidence explaining how and why these variables impact important workplace outcomes and extend existing theory by identifying appraisals of the organization (and not the self) as a mechanism explaining stressor–strain relationships.     

Work–Life Balance in the Police: The Development of a Self-Management Competency Framework

Purpose

Addressing a gap in the current work–life balance (WLB) literature regarding individual-focused approaches to inform interventions, we elicited behaviors used to self-manage WLB to draw up a competency-based WLB framework for relevant learnable knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs; Hoffmann, Eur J Ind Train 23:275–285, 1999) and mapping this against extant WLB frameworks.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Our participants were from a major UK police force, which faces particular challenges to the work–life interface through job demands and organizational cutbacks, covering a range of operational job roles, including uniformed officers and civilian staff. We took a mixed methods approach starting with semi-structured interviews to elicit 134 distinct behaviors (n = 20) and used a subsequent card sort task (n = 10) to group these into categories into 12 behavioral themes; and finally undertook an online survey (n = 356) for an initial validation.

Findings

Item and content analysis reduced the behaviors to 58, which we analyzed further. A framework of eight competencies fits the data best; covering a range of strategies, including Boundary Management, Managing Flexibility, and Managing Expectations.

Implications

The WLB self-management KSAs elicited consist of a range of solution-focused behaviors and strategies, which could inform future WLB-focused interventions, showing how individuals may negotiate borders effectively in a specific environment.

Originality/Value

A competence-based approach to WLB self-management is new, and may extend existing frameworks such as Border Theory, highlighting a proactive and solution-focused element of effective behaviors.     

The Moderating Role of Gender in Relationships of Stressors and Personality with Counterproductive Work Behavior

Purpose

Gender differences in counterproductive work behavior (CWB: behavior that harms organizations or people) have been understudied. We explored gender mean differences, and the moderating effect of gender on the relationship of personality (agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, trait anger, and hostile attribution bias) and stressors (interpersonal conflict and organizational constraints) with three forms of CWB (directed toward organizations, directed toward persons, and relational aggression which are acts that damage relationships with other employees).

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted of 915 employed individuals recruited from university classes. All worked at least 20 h per week (mean 26.3 h), and held a variety of jobs in many industries.

Findings

Men reported more CWB with correlations ranging from 0.12 to 0.18. Gender was found to moderate the relationship of job stressors and personality with CWB. The tendency for males to report engaging in more CWB was greater at high as opposed to low levels of interpersonal conflict, organizational constraints, trait anger and HAB and at low as opposed to high levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability.

Implications

These results suggest that gender differences in overall CWB are rather small, with men engaging in more than women only when they have certain personality characteristics or perceive high levels of job stressors. In other words men may be more reactive than women.

Originality/value

This study shows that gender serves a moderator role, and is the first to adapt the construct of relational aggression to the workplace.