Defining and Measuring Employee Organizational Resentment
Advisor Information
Lisa Scherer
Location
Milo Bail Student Center Ballroom
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
8-3-2013 9:00 AM
End Date
8-3-2013 12:00 PM
Abstract
An understudied phenomenon in organizations is employee organizational resentment (EOR), for which we have developed a new scale of measurement. EOR is defined as an employee’s state of negative affective brought on by perceived injustice in the workplace and directed towards a co-worker or the organization. We propose that when employees feel high levels of resentment, undesirable outcomes such as counterproductive work behaviors are more likely to occur. Counterproductive work behaviors are intentional, verbal or physical acts towards a person or an organization that could harm the organization’s interests (Enns & Rotundo, 2012), and can affect work satisfaction and physical and mental health (Lim, Cortina, & Magley, 2008). We obtained data from employees working in organizations (N = 114) and identified several variables used to establish construct validity for the scale. Trait hostility and deviance was found to be positively related to EOR, which relate to a negative affect and antisocial acts directed towards other people or an organization. Empathy, the “reactions of one individual to the observed experiences of another” (Davis, 1983, pg.113), resulted in a negative relationship with EOR while extraversion was found to be unrelated to EOR. The new scale included 9 items with responses based on a four-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree) and resulted in a coefficient alpha of .91. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted and resulted in a two-factor scale. Given the findings, the subscales of EOR and its impact on counterproductive work behaviors should be further examined.
Defining and Measuring Employee Organizational Resentment
Milo Bail Student Center Ballroom
An understudied phenomenon in organizations is employee organizational resentment (EOR), for which we have developed a new scale of measurement. EOR is defined as an employee’s state of negative affective brought on by perceived injustice in the workplace and directed towards a co-worker or the organization. We propose that when employees feel high levels of resentment, undesirable outcomes such as counterproductive work behaviors are more likely to occur. Counterproductive work behaviors are intentional, verbal or physical acts towards a person or an organization that could harm the organization’s interests (Enns & Rotundo, 2012), and can affect work satisfaction and physical and mental health (Lim, Cortina, & Magley, 2008). We obtained data from employees working in organizations (N = 114) and identified several variables used to establish construct validity for the scale. Trait hostility and deviance was found to be positively related to EOR, which relate to a negative affect and antisocial acts directed towards other people or an organization. Empathy, the “reactions of one individual to the observed experiences of another” (Davis, 1983, pg.113), resulted in a negative relationship with EOR while extraversion was found to be unrelated to EOR. The new scale included 9 items with responses based on a four-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree) and resulted in a coefficient alpha of .91. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted and resulted in a two-factor scale. Given the findings, the subscales of EOR and its impact on counterproductive work behaviors should be further examined.