Antisocial Behaviors Scale

Abstract

The Antisocial Behaviors scale is a specialized psychometric measure developed by Robinson and O’Leary-Kelly (1998). Its purpose is to quantify the frequency of negative, destructive behaviors exhibited by employees that hold the potential to cause harm to individual colleagues, supervisors, or the organization as a whole. This scale captures a critical dimension of organizational deviance.

The behaviors assessed range from subtle acts of insubordination and interpersonal conflict to more overt forms of misconduct, such as damaging company property, intentionally performing work poorly, breaking established rules, initiating arguments, and expressing severe criticism or rude remarks about management or the organization.

Keywords

Antisocial behavior, Organizational deviance, Workplace misconduct, Employee behavior, Work groups, Organizational citizenship behaviors, Counterproductive work behaviors.

Authors

Sandra L. Robinson, Anne M. O’Leary-Kelly

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Antisocial Behaviors scale is to systematically assess the extent to which employees engage in behaviors that violate organizational norms and threaten the well-being and efficiency of the workplace. This measure provides a standardized method for researchers to study the prevalence and drivers of counterproductive work behaviors (CWB).

The scale allows for empirical investigation into contextual factors, such as the influence of work groups, on individual employee conduct. By quantifying these actions, the instrument helps identify organizational environments or group dynamics that may foster or mitigate the development of negative workplace behaviors.

Construct

The scale measures the psychological construct of Antisocial Behavior within an organizational context. This construct is operationalized as voluntary, deliberate actions taken by employees that result in, or are intended to result in, harm to the organization or its members. The behaviors represent a form of deviance that spans both interpersonal and organizational targets.

The items encompass several dimensions of deviance, including actions directed at property (e.g., damage), production (e.g., intentional slowing of work), and politics (e.g., criticizing superiors). The unified construct reflects the employee’s general propensity toward disruptive and non-normative conduct over a specified period.

Validity

The validity of the measure was supported through correlational studies demonstrating appropriate relationships with related and opposing constructs. Employee antisocial behaviors were found to correlate positively with measures of group antisocial behavior, suggesting that individual deviance is often mirrored or amplified by peer group norms.

In terms of discriminant validity, antisocial behaviors correlated negatively with positive indicators of workplace adjustment, specifically general employee satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). Furthermore, group antisocial behaviors were positively associated with an individual’s tenure in the group but negatively associated with demographic factors such as gender and age, as well as organizational factors like job tenure and the intention to leave the job, reinforcing the scale’s relevance to organizational outcomes.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the Antisocial Behaviors scale was evaluated using Coefficient Alpha (Cronbach’s Alpha). Across the studies reported by Robinson and O’Leary-Kelly (1998), the reliability estimates were consistently acceptable for a newly developed measure.

The Coefficient Alpha values for the scale ranged from 0.68 to 0.81. This range indicates that the items within the scale demonstrate a satisfactory level of homogeneity and reliably measure the underlying tendency toward antisocial workplace conduct.

Factor Analysis

Although the original source treats the measure as a cohesive instrument, the scale is typically employed in research as a unidimensional measure of overall workplace deviance. The nine items are generally aggregated to form a single score reflecting the frequency of negative behaviors.

The breadth of the items suggests that while a single factor captures the general construct, subsequent analyses in the literature may have explored sub-factors relating to interpersonal versus organizational targets of deviance. However, the primary utility of the instrument lies in its ability to provide a comprehensive, singular assessment of employee antisocial conduct.

Instrument

Test Type: Behavioral frequency self-report questionnaire

Format: 9 items scored on a 5-point Likert-type scale.

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: Employees and organizational members

Age Group: Adult working population (typically 18 years and older)

Population Details: Developed using samples of employees across various industries, focusing on individuals operating within organizational structures and work groups.

Test Methodology: Respondents are asked to report the frequency of their own (or a focal person’s) engagement in each specified antisocial behavior over the preceding year, using the anchors 1 = very infrequently and 5 = very frequently.

Keywords

Workplace misconduct, Employee deviance, Organizational norms, Group influence, Reliability, Validity, Counterproductive work behavior, Organizational psychology.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in the primary source.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in the primary source.

Correspondence Address: Correspondence details are tied to the institutional affiliations of Sandra L. Robinson and Anne M. O’Leary-Kelly at the time of publication (1998).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1998

Permissions: The scale items were published in the Academy of Management Journal. Permission for reproduction and use is typically managed by the copyright holder, the Academy of Management. The original publication noted that items were reproduced with permission in the format of a textbook via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Fee: Fees for academic or commercial use must be obtained from the Academy of Management.

Reference’s

Robinson, S. L., & O’Leary-Kelly, A. M. (1998). Monkey see, monkey do: The influence of work groups on the antisocial behavior of employees. Academy of Management Journal, 41, 658-672. © 1998 by Academy of Management.

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Items of the Antisocial Behaviors scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Responses are obtained using a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = very infrequently and 5 = very frequently. Respondents are instructed to report how frequently a focal person had engaged in each behavior within the year prior.

1. Damaged property belonging to my employer.
2. Said or did something to purposely hurt someone at work.
3. Did work badly, incorrectly, or slowly on purpose.
4. Griped with co-workers.
5. Deliberately bent or broke a rule(s)
6. Criticized people at work.
7. Did something that harmed my employer or boss?
8. Started an argument with someone at work.
9. Said rude things about my supervisor or organization.