An examination of the role of self-control in the prediction of counterproductive work behaviors: Does cognition matter

Self-control and causal reasoning theories were integrated in order to examine the role of self-control in the prediction of counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Four hundred sixty six working undergraduate students were surveyed to test the hypotheses that self-control is positively related to perceptions of organizational justice and negatively related to specific causal attributions. To test the original conceptualization of self-control theory, it was hypothesized that perceptions of organizational justice moderated the relation between self-control and CWB. The integrated theoretical model proposed that first perceptions of organizational justice and then specific causal attributions mediated the relation between self-control and CWB (Model 1). Two alternative models concerning the relationship between self-control and CWB also were proposed. In one (Model 2), a direct path between self-control and CWB was added to Model 1. In the other (Model 3), it was hypothesized that perceptions of organizational justice and specific causal attributions simultaneously mediated the relation between self-control and CWB. Structural equation modeling was used to test Models 1-3 and moderated regression analysis was used to test the original self-control theory. The results of this study provide strong support for self-control as a primary determinant of CWB. Further, while results indicated a lack of support for the proposed integrated models, support for individual hypotheses integrating self-control and causal reasoning theories was obtained. Support was also found for application of self-control to broader domains outside of crime and analogous behaviors. Measurement issues and implications are presented.