Reducing counterproductive work behavior through employee selection

Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) has been a problem since organizations have hired employees. Recently, there has been increasing interest in explaining and addressing deviant behavior in the workplace. Our review of the research on CWBs shows a gap between theory development and the development of procedures to address deviant behavior. Moreover, studies in, for example, clinical psychology, have relevance for understanding CWBs, but cross-fertilization with other relevant literatures is not in evidence. We summarize the contributions of three relatively distinct lines of research. We contend that current dimensional personality theories should guide the implementation of interventions seeking to reduce CWBs. We describe validity studies that incorporate the development of employee selection procedures based on the assumption that CWBs should be anchored within a dimensional model and we present empirical results that support the utility of that model.