The impact of monitoring and sanctioning and perceived loafing towards revenge motive and tendency to commit counterproductive work behaviors within the academic workplace

Abstract

Within the actual practical day to day activities, even within an academic setting, counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) exist. Taking note of the harm that CWBs are able to induce on both individuals and organizations, it would seem appropriate that antecedents of CWBs be clearly understood. More so within an academic setting, wherein there is a system of monitoring and sanctioning in placed, CWBs should be kept to a minimum. However, this is not the case, previous CWB studies suggests a moderate occurrence of deviant behaviors within academic institutions. To better understand this phenomenon, the current study hypothesized that perceived loafing (PL) of peers is mediated by an individual’s revenge motive (RM), which in turn affects the prevalence of CWBs. Furthermore, the current study also investigates the role of monitoring and sanctioning (MAS) towards an individual’s tendency to loaf. Participants are 935 teachers employed during the 2015 school year in Taiwan. Survey items include the Mulvey and Klein’s (1998) loafing scale, Jones’ (2009) revenge motive scale, Fine, Horowitz, Weigler, and Basis’s (2010) monitoring and sanctioning scale, and Hu, Hung, and Ching’s (2015) CWB Taiwan scale (CWB-T). Using the statistical method of structured equation modelling (SEM), results suggest that PL has an increasing effect on both RM and CWB-T. In addition, RM seems to act as a mediator between PL and CWB-T, while MAS exhibits a decreasing effect on PL. In sum, findings suggest that in order for academic institutions to minimize the occurrence of CWBs, appropriate monitoring and sanctioning must be implemented.