Revealing the Relationship Between Organization-Targeted Counterproductive Work Behavior and Citizenship Behavior: Moral Cleansing and Employee Traditionality in Collectivist Culture

Recent research on counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) has clearly distinguished between organizational-directed and individual-directed forms of CWB. Organizational-directed counterproductive work behaviors (CWB-O) pose a significant threat to organizational effectiveness and employee well-being. However, there remains a gap in research regarding the psychological mechanisms by which perpetrators subsequently engage in positive behaviors. Drawing on moral cleansing theory, this study, based on two-wave survey data from 489 Chinese employees, explores the relationship between CWB-O and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB-O). The results reveal that employees who engage in CWB-O experience higher levels of guilt and stronger perceptions of moral impurity, both of which independently and positively mediate the impact of CWB-O on OCB-O. Furthermore, we find that employees’ traditionalism orientation positively moderates the indirect effects of CWB-O on OCB-O through guilt experience and moral impurity perception, with the mediation effect being more pronounced for employees with higher traditionalism orientation. This study extends moral cleansing theory and highlights the role of cultural values in shaping workplace moral self-regulation.