Coping with daily boredom: Exploring the relationships of job boredom, counterproductive work behavior, organizational citizenship behavior, and cognitive reappraisal

Abstract

Given that job boredom is experienced by more than half of the workforce on a daily basis, more scientific research on its potential outcomes and moderators is warranted. This study examined whether daily fluctuations in job boredom are associated with daily increases or decreases in counterproductive work behavior and organizational citizenship behavior, and whether individual differences in cognitive reappraisal moderated these relationships. Our hypotheses were tested in a daily diary study (396 daily observations); results indicated that the predicted positive relationships of job boredom with both active and passive counterproductive work behavior were supported, whereas the direction of the relationship between job boredom and organizational citizenship behavior was person-specific. Contrary to our expectations, cognitive reappraisal did not moderate any of the above relationships. Our results clearly show that scores on these constructs vary more within than between individuals and suggest that combining the within- and between-person levels, both in theorizing and analyses, is necessary to understand these phenomena better.

Is boredom at work bad for your health? Examining the links between job boredom and autonomic nervous system dysfunction

“…Even though job boredom is considered as a transient and short-lived state and thus studies often focus on its immediate effects at the workplace, such as counterproductive work behaviours (e.g., Bruursema et al, 2011;Pindek et al, 2018;Spanouli et al, 2023;van Hooff & van Hooft, 2014), our results show that the effects of job boredom may extend beyond the workplace and be observed even after the workday ends.…”

Within-Person Dynamics of Job Boredom and Counterproductive Work Behavior: A Latent Change Score Modeling Approach

“…Spector and Fox's (2002) model of voluntary work behaviors, for instance, posits that negative affect leads to CWB. Consistent with this notion, ndings from a daily diary study (Spanouli et al, 2023) demonstrated the lagged effect of job boredom on CWB at the within-person level. Thus, we expect job boredom to relate positively to next-day increases in CWB (Hypothesis 1).…”

“…CWBs are voluntary behaviors detrimental to the well-being of employees and the organization (Dalal et al, 2009). However, these studies primarily have been crosssectional and at the between-person level (for an exception, see Spanouli et al, 2023), failing to yield insight into within-person dynamics of job boredom and CWB. Consequently, research is unclear about the directionality of the job boredom-CWB relationship at the within-person level.…”

Determinant of Job Performance among Lower-Level Employees: A Case in the Central Region of Malaysia

“…Lastly, Sypniewska (2020) stated that counterproductive work behavior is voluntarily acts presented by employees, whether they are conscious or not, that are harmful for the organization or its members. Spanouli et al (2023) termed counterproductive work behaviour as the 'dark side' of employees' performance that results in critical problems in organizations.…”