Examining the incremental and interactive effects of implicit motives with explicit traits in predicting counterproductive work behavior

Abstract

To mitigate counterproductive work behavior (CWB), researchers and practitioners have been concerned with identifying personality characteristics of employees who are more likely to engage in CWB. Although personality research posits that an integrative approach to personality assessment is required for a comprehensive understanding of behaviour, CWB-personality research has focused on capturing personality in terms of explicit traits while neglecting other dimensions of personality, such as implicit motives. Employees high in implicit motives may engage or disengage from CWB as it satisfies or thwarts the goal satisfactions respectively. Besides being independent and unique predictors of CWB, explicit traits and implicit motives may interact and predict CWB. Specifically, traits channel the behavioural expression of implicit motives (i.e., channeling hypothesis). Hence, this study examines whether implicit affiliation, achievement, and power motives predict CWB beyond agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability. Additionally, the study examines the rarely examined channeling effects of agreeableness and conscientiousness for motives on CWB. 112 undergraduates completed an online questionnaire assessing their explicit traits, implicit motives and CWB. After excluding participants that failed the attention check questions, and those that did not meet the eligibility criteria (i.e., a minimum of 20 hours working hours per week and two months tenure), the final sample consisted of 70 participants. Results showed that implicit motives and explicit traits were not predictive of CWB; only gender was. Incremental and interactive effects of implicit motives with explicit traits in predicting CWB were not significant. Future research on CWB and personality should account for gender. Keywords: Implicit motives, Traits, Counterproductive work behaviour