<p>Although the empowering role of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in organizational settings has been widely recognized, its negative impacts on employees’ work remain underexplored. To this end, this research employs a mixed-method design to explore how GAI impacts GAI-driven counterproductive work behaviors (GCWB) from the perspective of technological characteristics. Through qualitative research, we identified four GAI characteristics that influence employees’ GCWB: excessive obedience to prompts, decision-making ambiguity, toxicity, and homogeneity. Guided by the integrated ethical decision-making (I-EDM) model, we constructed a theoretical framework and conducted a quantitative analysis of survey data to elucidate the mechanisms by which GAI characteristics affect GCWB. The results reveal a dual impact of GAI characteristics on GCWB. While these characteristics promote GCWB by enhancing employees’ perceived benefit, they simultaneously suppress such behaviors by amplifying their perceived cost. Moreover, individual moral awareness and team norms significantly moderate the influence of employees’ ethical value judgments on GCWB. Through a novel perspective, this work enhances comprehension of GAI’s workplace effects, supports the advancement of GAI-related enterprises, and delivers actionable recommendations for managers to cope with technological transformation.</p>