Counterproductive work behaviour, organisational justice, organisational embeddedness and psychological ownership among police force in Pakistan

Counterproductive work behaviour (CWB) is commonplace in organisations. The consequences of such behaviour have been proven inimical for organisations and their stakeholders. The police force is considered a vital state institution; but, the presence of CWB among police employees is very rampant especially in underdeveloped countries such as Pakistan. Organisational justice (OJ) is regarded as a prime determinant of CWB. Although numerous researchers have studied the relation of OJ and CWB, none of them have explored the role of organisational embeddedness (OE) and psychological ownership (PO) in this regard. This study thus aimed to investigate the mechanisms through which OJ is translated into CWB among the police in Pakistan. Such relationship is explained through a moderated mediation model where organisational embeddedness mediates between OJ and CWB, and PO moderates the relationship between OE and CWB. The COR theory was used as the underpinning theory to explain the interrelationships among the constructs. Data were collected by administering a cross-sectional survey to the employees working in 33 police stations, chosen one from each circle of the capital city of Lahore. Three hundred and thirty-one responses were received. The proposed model was tested using PLS-SEM to address the treatment of higher-order reflective-formative constructs of OE and CWB. The data supported the claim that OE mediates the relationship between OJ and CWB. Also, it was found that PO moderated the negative relation of OE with CWB. Thus, the results supported the proposed conceptual framework based on the COR theory. This study will give practitioners new insights into how they can minimise the occurrence of CWB among police employees. Apart from providing a work environment based on fair procedures and policies, the intervening role of embeddedness in the organisation and PO can contribute positively in shaping the behaviours of police employees.

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