The balancing act of performance: Psychometric networks and the causal interplay of organizational citizenship and counterproductive work behaviors

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) are recognized as two primary dimensions of the job performance domain, each contributing to crucial individual and organizational outcomes. However, an incomplete understanding of the OCB-CWB interplay persists due to a predominant focus on their between-person interrelation and a lack of consistent empirical support for the few within-person OCB-CWB studies. Here we elucidate the dynamic OCB-CWB interplay by integrating moral licensing and moral cleansing theories to form an overarching framework that explains previous inconsistency in findings. Specifically, we argue that performing OCBs can lead individuals to perceive a license to perform subsequent CWBs, whereas performing CWBs can lead individuals to compensate for their undesirable behavior by performing OCBs. In a 10-day daily-diary survey, we utilize the cutting-edge technique of directed-graph psychometric network analysis to test our hypotheses. Results suggest that although there may be a negative or null OCB-CWB relationship due to individuals' general consistency in behavior, integrating moral licensing and cleansing can explain instances of positive relations wherein OCBs predict subsequent CWBs and vice versa. Our findings demonstrate distinct relations at the between- and within-person levels of this phenomenon, as well as individual differences in the specific behavioral patterning of the OCB-CWB interplay. Notably, the current findings constitute a contribution to both our theoretical understanding of the dynamic OCB-CWB interplay, an empirical test of two major theories of moral behavior applied to the workplace, and points to the practical potential of the psychometric network approach within research and practice.