Assessing Effort-Reward Imbalance as an Explanatory Mechanism in the Association between Work-Family Conflict and Counterproductive Work Behaviors

Abstract

Background: Workplace deviance among employees is rising. Employers want to know what causes workplace deviance to help reduce counterproductive behaviors. This study examines how work-family conflict, family-work conflict, and workplace deviance relate to one another, and whether effort-reward imbalance mediates these relationships. Reward Imbalance Questionnaire (ERIQ), the Work-Family Conflict and Family-Work Conflict Scale (WFC-FWCS), and the Interpersonal and Organizational Deviance Scale. The study adopted a cross-sectional design. Three hypotheses were tested using mediated hierarchical multiple regression.
Results: Work-family conflict and family-work conflict each significantly predicted workplace deviance. Effort-reward imbalance also significantly predicted workplace deviance. Furthermore, effort-reward imbalance partially mediated the relationships between work-family conflict and workplace deviance, and between family-work conflict and workplace deviance (indirect effects: β = .04, CI = .02–.06; and β = .05, CI = .03–.07, respectively).
Conclusions: Effort-reward imbalance partially explains the link between work-family conflict and deviant workplace behaviors. Training initiatives and job flexibility are suggested as likely interventions to reduce workplace deviance. Future studies should explore additional stress models and employ longitudinal approaches.