Understanding the domain of counterproductive work behaviour in China

Abstract

Current conceptualizations of employee job performance in the Western literature include task performance, organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), and counterproductive work behaviour (CWB). Limited research has investigated the cross-cultural generalizability of these categories or their content. Convergence and divergence theorists present competing perspectives on the cross-cultural applicability of Western management practices. The growing role of China in the world economy makes this culture an important one to consider. The present study contributes to job performance research in two important ways. First, Study 1 investigates whether CWB in China is described by similar or different behaviours as in the Western literature. Second, Study 2 examines the importance that Chinese managers place on task performance, OCB, and CWB. Findings indicate that Chinese managers are similar to North American managers in the content of CWB. Furthermore, Chinese managers value all three groups of behaviours when rating overall performance, placing greater emphasis on task performance and less emphasis on CWB than North American managers. The results suggest that cross-cultural research on job performance needs to take both convergence and divergence perspectives into account.

Keywords:

• China
• convergence and divergence perspectives
• counterproductive work behaviour
• employee job performance
• organizational citizenship behaviour
• policy-capturing

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants to the first and second authors, Maria Rotundo and Jia Lin Xie, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.