Abstract:
The study investigated abusive supervision, work tension and work overload as predictors of
counter productive work behaviour (CWB). Three hundred and one (301) secondary school
teachers participated, who were randomly drawn from Urban Girls Secondary School, Nsukka;
Nsukka High School, Nsukka; St. Teresa’s College, Nsukka; Queen of the Rosary Secondary
School, Nsukka; Community Secondary School Obukpa, Nsukka; Model Secondary School,
Nsukka and Community Secondary School Isienu, Nsukka. Their age ranged between 25years to
59years and above. These teachers were accidentally sampled. Four instruments were used:
Abusive Supervision Scale designed by Tapper (2000), Work Tension Scale designed by House
and Rizzo (2013), Work Overload Scale designed by Kaplan (2006) and Counter Work
Productive Behaviour Scale designed by Suzy and Spector (2003). Three hypotheses were stated
and tested. The result of the multiple regression analysis showed that all the null hypotheses were
rejected implying that the abusive supervision, work tension and work overload all significantly
predicted CWB; abusive supervision (β = .24, t = 4.10, P < 0.05), work tension (β = .21, t = .20,
P < 0.001) and work overload (β = .22, t = .10, P < 0.001). It was however concluded that
abusive supervision of any kind and degree, work tension as well as work overload by this
research are associated with CWB. Implications and limitations were discussed and suggestions
were made for further studies.
