Can Counterproductive Work Behaviors Be Productive? CWB as Emotion-Focused Coping

The goal of our study was to determine whether some forms of counterproductive work behavior (CWB) may serve to benefit employees. Building on the stressor-strain framework and theories of coping, we investigated whether two forms of CWB, production deviance and withdrawal, serve as a means of coping to mitigate the impact of low distributive and procedural justice on emotional exhaustion. Results from a survey of 295 employed persons from around the United States suggest that production deviance and withdrawal may benefit employees by reducing emotional exhaustion in the face of low distributive justice but not necessarily low procedural justice.