The prediction of employee counterproductivity through attitude assessment

Two studies were conducted to identify psychological predictors of employee counterproductivity. Results of the first study showed that tolerant attitudes toward violence and dissatisfaction with co-workers significantly predicted on-the-job damage by employees. In addition, condoning attitudes toward violence and dishonesty, dissatisfaction with co-workers and lie scale scores reliably predicted on-the-job waste by employees. The second study found that condoning attitudes toward dishonesty, dissatisfaction with work, sex of employee, and two measures of overall job dissatisfaction significantly predicted counterproductive behavior on the job, using a cross-validation strategy. These variables explained over a quarter of the variance in the criterion. Attitudes toward dishonesty were found to be the best single predictor of counterproductivity. Implications for industry are discussed.