Counterproductive work behavior among frontline government employees: Role of personality, emotional intelligence, affectivity, emotional labor, and emotional exhaustion

AbstractThe main objective of this research is to study the effect of personality, emotional intelligence (EI), affectivity, emotional labor and emotional exhaustion on counterproductive work behavior (CWB) of frontline employees in the government sector. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to 625 frontline employees working at service counters in 25 ministries in Malaysia. We received responses from 519 employees (response rate=83%). The data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The main findings are: (1) personality factors of employees drive their EI, affectivity, emotional labor, emotional exhaustion, and CWB and (2) EI and affectivity impact emotional labor, emotional exhaustion and CWB. Through the integrated model, we have studied the indirect roles of emotional labor and emotional exhaustion. This is one of the few studies that have effectively integrated the five constructs into a single framework to study their effects on CWB