Illegitimate tasks refer to tasks perceived as unreasonable or unnecessary and have been conceptualized as work stress threatening employees’ health and well-being. Focusing on the symbolic meaning of task illegitimacy, numerous researchers delved into illegitimate tasks’ affective and cognitive implications. However, comparably less is known about the energy-related cost of carrying out these tasks. In the current research, we draw from self-determination theory to develop a theoretical model to offer an energy-based elucidation of the relationship between illegitimate tasks and counterproductive work behavior against organization (CWB-O). In an experience sampling study involving 118 employees across ten working days (Study 1), we find that daily depletion mediates the positive indirect relationship between daily illegitimate tasks and daily CWB-O. We further validate the depletion effects of illegitimate tasks in a recall-based experiment (Study 2), finding that exposure to illegitimate tasks is positively related to depletion. Our results shed light on the energy-related consequence of exposure to illegitimate tasks.
