Bad behavior keeps you up at night: Counterproductive work behaviors and insomnia

Abstract

Drawing from recent research on counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) and moral self-regulation literature, we examine the intraindividual consequences of engaging in CWB. We posit that CWB represents morally discrediting work behaviors that can lead to moral deficits, create distress for perpetrators and ultimately result in insomnia. Specifically, we hypothesized that on days in which employees engage in CWB, they will tend to experience moral deficits and heightened levels of rumination that undermine their sleep that night. Moreover, we hypothesized that these effects will be stronger for those who are high in moral identity internalization. Data from 2 within-individual field studies and 1 experimental study provided consistent support for most of our hypotheses. Overall, we found that by engaging in CWB employees can create problems for their own sleep health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)