The Assessment of Counterproductive Tendencies by Means of the California Psychological Inventory

The authors developed an 80‐item scale to measure counterproductive tendencies, using items on the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), Form 434, and choosing items on the basis of their correlations, in a sample of 1,019 university undergraduates, with a self‐report instrument measuring counterproductive behaviors. A factor analysis of this criterion instrument revealed nine underlying dimensions. Analyses of scores on the new scale revealed significant gender differences (males higher) and yielded separate‐gender norms for four populations of interest. Internal‐consistency and test‐retest reliability estimates ranged between .80 and .90 across five samples. Correlations with standard CPI scales and domain and facet scales from the NEO PI‐R provided evidence of construct validity. Estimated true criterion‐related validity for the scale (a) averaged .60 in a student sample against the self‐report counterproductive‐behavior criterion, (b) was .35 against rated counterproductive job behavior in an employee sample, and (c) ranged as high as .36 against several other job‐performance ratings in two additional workplace samples.