Bored Employees Misbehaving: The Relationship Between Boredom and Counterproductive Work Behaviour
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-26-2011
Keywords
counterproductive work behaviour, job boredom, boredom proneness, aggression
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2011.596670
Abstract
In this study, the relationships among boredom proneness, job boredom, and counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) were examined. Boredom proneness consists of several factors, which include external stimulation and internal stimulation. Given the strong relationships between both the external stimulation factor of boredom proneness (BP-ext) and anger as well as the strong relationship between trait anger and CWB, we hypothesized that examining BP-ext would help us to better understand why employees commit CWB. Five types of CWB have previously been described: abuse against others, production deviance, sabotage, withdrawal and theft. To those we added a sixth, horseplay. Using responses received from 211 participants who were recruited by email from throughout North America (112 of them matched with co-workers), we found support for our central premise. Indeed, both BP-ext and job boredom showed significant relationships with various types of CWB. The boredom proneness factor also moderated the relationship between job boredom and some types of CWB, suggesting that a better understanding of boredom is imperative for designing interventions to prevent CWB.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Work & Stress, v. 25, issue 2, p. 93-107
Scholar Commons Citation
Bruursema, Kari; Kessler, Stacy R.; and Spector, Paul E., "Bored Employees Misbehaving: The Relationship Between Boredom and Counterproductive Work Behaviour" (2011). Psychology Faculty Publications. 736.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/psy_facpub/736
