Bad behaviours because of a dead‐end job? Effects of career plateau on counterproductive work behaviours

Abstract Career advancement offers employee motivation, but what happens when an upward path reaches a plateau? With a three‐wave survey of 244 members of 58 work teams, the current study explores how and when career plateaus influence counterproductive work behaviours (CWBs), in accordance with negative reciprocity theory. The results show that at the individual level, individual job content plateaus relate positively to individual CWBs, through individual work alienation; individual task crafting weakens this mediating effect. At the team level, the team hierarchical plateaus relate positively to team CWBs through team work alienation, and team participation in decision‐making weakens this mediating effect. This multi‐level perspective establishes both theoretical contributions and practical implications.