Introduction: The success of an organization largely depends on the efforts of its employees, as they implement strategic action. Just as other social sciences have continued to evolve in their theories and models, organizational behavior has also transformed from a relatively simple discipline with a narrow focus into a much richer and more comprehensive field. A set of new concepts and variables has emerged as part of this evolution in theory and research. Although some of these newly defined behaviors are functional in nature, others are significantly less functional. We call these behaviors the "dark side" of organizational behavior, which includes motivated behaviors by an employee or a group of employees that have negative consequences for an individual in the organization, other groups within the organization, or the organization itself. Counterproductive Work Behaviors (CWB) encompass a wide range of employee behaviors that are detrimental to organizations. All counterproductive and dysfunctional actions and behaviors share the common characteristic of violating the legitimate interests of an organization and are potentially harmful to its members or the organization as a whole. Research defines dysfunctional work behaviors as actions intended to harm the organization or its other members. Examples of dysfunctional behaviors include aggression, verbal conflicts between employees, gossiping and stealing from colleagues, spreading rumors, theft from the organization, sabotage and destruction of organizational resources, sharing confidential organizational information, and shirking work.

Methodology: The present study is applied in terms of purpose, descriptive in terms of the level of control over variables, and field-based in terms of data collection method, with the data collection tool being a questionnaire. The statistical population of this research includes all employees of the East Azerbaijan Building Engineering Organization, whose number, according to the organization's statistics in the year 1401 (2022-2023), is 205 people. The sample size, calculated using Cochran's formula, was selected as 134 from the aforementioned population. Sampling was done randomly. The research questionnaire contains indicators related to measuring variables to answer the research questions and examine the hypotheses. A questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire used in the study consisted of two types of questions: general and specialized. The first category covered general information about respondents’ individual characteristics such as gender, age, and education level, while the remaining questions were dedicated to the scales related to the research variables. Also, to collect data, the questionnaire developed by Misler et al. (2019) was used to measure the research variables. The questionnaire was based on a five-point Likert scale. All questions were formatted on a 5-point Likert scale, with scores assigned as follows: 5 for strongly agree, 4 for agree, 3 for neutral, 2 for disagree, and 1 for strongly disagree.

Results and Discussion: To examine the assumption of normality of the data distribution, the Shapiro-Wilk test was performed. The results indicated that all research variables follow a normal distribution (significance level > 0.05). Therefore, the use of parametric methods and structural modeling is appropriate. According to Table 5 and the presence of an indirect effect between the perception of organizational policies and individual and organizational counterproductive work behavior, it can be concluded that the impact of the independent variables on the dependent variables is also conditional and indirect. Therefore, the mediating role of employee hostility between the perception of organizational policies and individual and organizational counterproductive work behavior is confirmed, with the magnitude of this indirect effect being 0.248 and 0.177, respectively. The research findings are highly significant for human resource managers and organizational leaders. Creating transparency in decision-making, reducing political behaviors, and promoting organizational justice are among the most important strategies that can mitigate employees' negative perceptions. Furthermore, designing psychological interventions to reduce hostility among employees through training in communication skills and conflict management is recommended.


Conclusion: The present study aimed to examine the effect of employees’ perception of organizational policies on the occurrence of individual and organizational counterproductive behaviors, with hostility as a mediating variable. Data analysis using structural equation modeling showed that all research hypotheses were confirmed. Specifically, the perception of organizational policies has a significant and positive effect on hostility, as well as on individual and organizational counterproductive behaviors. Moreover, hostility, as a mediating variable, strengthens this relationship. These findings indicate that perceived unfair policies within an organization increase tension and hostility among employees, creating a context for the emergence of inefficient and destructive behaviors. This research, conducted for the first time in Iran, demonstrated a positive effect among the study hypotheses and confirmed the mediating role of hostility, which is consistent with similar studies conducted internationally.