Familial resemblance, citizenship, and counterproductive work behavior: A combined twin, adoption, parent-offspring, and spouse approach

Given the well-documented importance of counterproductive workplace behavior and organizational citizenship behavior (together nontask performance), it is important to clarify the degree to which these behaviors are attributable to organizational climate versus preexisting individual differences. Such clarification informs where these behaviors stem from, and consequently has practical implications for organizations (e.g., guiding prioritization of selection criteria). We investigated familial resemblance for nontask performance among twins, nontwin and adoptive siblings, parents and offspring, and midlife and late-life couples drawn from two, large-scale studies: the Minnesota Twin Family Study and the Sibling Interaction Behavior Study. Similarity among family members' (e.g., parents-offspring, siblings) engagement in nontask performance was assessed to estimate the degree to which preexisting individual differences (i.e., genetic variability) and the environment (i.e., environmentality) accounted for variation in counterproductive and citizenship behavior. We found that degree of familial resemblance for nontask performance increased with increasing genetic relationship. Nonetheless, genetically identical individuals correlated only moderately in their workplace behavior ( r = .29-.40), highlighting the importance of environmental differences. Notably, family members were more similar in their counterproductive than citizenship behavior, suggesting citizenship behavior is comparatively more environmentally influenced. Spouse/partner similarity for nontask behavior was modest and did not vary between midlife and late-life couples, suggesting spousal influence on nontask performance is limited. These findings offer insight to organizations regarding the degree of nature (individual differences) and nurture (including organizational factors) influences on nontask performance, which has implications for the selection of interventions (e.g., relative value of applicant selection or incumbent interventions). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).