Illegitimate Tasks and Counterproductive Work Behavior

Illegitimate tasks represent a new stressor concept that is specifically tied to feeling offended. Tasks are legitimate to the extent that they conform to norms about what can reasonably be expected from a given person, and they are illegitimate to the extent that they violate such norms. Illegitimate tasks therefore are conceived as offending one's professional identity, and thus, the self. Previous research has shown illegitimate tasks to be related to indicators of well-being and strain, controlling for other stressors. We now present two Studies showing that illegitimate tasks relate to counterproductive work behavior, controlling for effort-reward imbalance in Study 1, for personality (conscientiousness and agreeableness) and organisational justice in Study 2. Thus, illegitimate tasks are associated with behavior that may be labeled "active, but in the wrong direction".