Counterproductive Work Behavior and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

In today's highly competitive environment, organizations need to identify and understand the factors that influence employees and their work outcomes, which in turn have consequences for the organization. The present research focused on analyzing the relationships between counterproductive work behaviors (abuse, production deviance, sabotage, theft, withdrawal) and levels of job satisfaction (intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction) in a sample of 79 participants. Results indicate a significantly negative relationship between extrinsic satisfaction and counterproductive behaviors in total. A significant negative correlation was also observed between job satisfaction and theft behavior. Extrinsic satisfaction also showed a significantly negative correlation with theft and abuse behavior. Contrary to initial hypotheses, the research refuted the significantly negative relationship between job satisfaction and counterproductive behaviors in total, as well as between intrinsic satisfaction and these behaviors. These results suggest that, in this sample, job satisfactionand counterproductive behaviors did not show a direct correlation as originally expected. This research provides an important insight into the complexity of workplace relationships and highlights the needfor further research to understand more deeply the influences of psychological variables on workplace behavior.