Investigating counterproductive work behaviour in the context of causal reasoning approach: The regulatory role of cognitive distortions

Counterproductive work behaviors are one of the topics that have attracted the attention of researchers in recent years. All the behaviors exhibited by individuals in the workplace that harm the well-being of the organization and its stakeholders are defined as Counterproductive Work Behaviors. The aim of this study is to try to explain the antecedents of counterproductive work behaviors within the framework of the attribution theory. The first question of this research is, in case of damage to organizational justice perception whether cognitive distortions will play a moderator role on the type of causal attribution that employees will make. The second question of the research is whether or not the type of causal attribution made by employees predicts the type of counterproductive work behavior. The research consists of a preliminary and a main study. In the preliminary study validity and reliability studies was conducted of "Counter Productive Work Behavior Scale" and "Workplace Explanatory Style Questionnaire" for Turkish sample. As a result of the analyzes carried out, it was seen that both scales were valid and reliable to be used in the study. After the preliminary study, the main study was conducted with the voluntary participation of 248 nurses working in Ankara. The obtained data were subjected to correlation analysis and regulatory impact analysis. As a result of the research, the regulatory effect of cognitive distortions and its effect on predicting the type of counterproductive work behaviors could not be determined. However, cognitive distortions were found to have significant effect on attributions, findings were discussed in the light of the data obtained, and suggestions for future studies were presented. Keywords: Counterproductive work behavior, causal reasoning approach, organizational justice, cognitive distortions, nurses.