Individual- and organizational-level consequences of organizational citizenship behaviors: A meta-analysis.

Although one of the main reasons for the interest in organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) is the potential consequences of these behaviors, no study has been reported that summarizes the research regarding the relationships between OCBs and their outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide a meta-analytic examination of the relationships between OCBs and a variety of individual- and organizational-level outcomes. Results, based on 168 independent samples (N = 51,235 individuals), indicated that OCBs are related to a number of individual-level outcomes, including managerial ratings of employee performance, reward allocation decisions, and a variety of withdrawal-related criteria (e.g., employee turnover intentions, actual turnover, and absenteeism). In addition, OCBs were found to be related (k = 38; N = 3,611 units) to a number of organizational-level outcomes (e.g., productivity, efficiency, reduced costs, customer satisfaction, and unit-level turnover). Of interest, somewhat stronger relationships were observed between OCBs and unit-level performance measures in longitudinal studies than in cross-sectional studies, providing some evidence that OCBs are causally related to these criteria. The implications of these findings for both researchers and practitioners are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of task interdependence on the relationship between helping behavior and group performance.

The authors examine whether task interdependence moderates the relationship between the helping form of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and group performance. In a laboratory study, 62 groups with 3 members each completed a card-sequencing activity in which the level of task interdependence among group members was manipulated. Independent evaluators assessed helping by viewing videotapes of the groups' interactions during the sequencing activities. Performance was measured as a combined function of group speed and accuracy. Two prior field studies reported contradictory results regarding the impact of helping on group performance. Results from this study suggest that task interdependence may explain these results, and that the relationship between helping and group performance depends on the level of task interdependence required of group members. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions of the "causes" of group performance as an alternative explanation of the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and organizational performance.

The purpose of this study was to examine the possibility that feedback regarding team performance may influence team members' reports of organizational citizenship behaviors. 95 teams of business students (N=412) participated in a labor-scheduling simulation over a local area network. Teams were provided with false negative, false positive, or neutral feedback regarding their performance. Results support the hypothesis that the perception of 2 forms of organizational citizenship behavior (helping behavior and civic virtue) in work groups may, in part, be a function of the nature of the performance feedback that group members receive. However, negative feedback appears to play a more critical role than positive feedback in this attributional process. Possible reasons for these findings, as well as their implications, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relative importance of task, citizenship, and counterproductive performance to global ratings of job performance: A policy-capturing approach.

A review of research on job performance suggests 3 broad components: task, citizenship, and counterproductive performance. This study examined the relative importance of each component to ratings of overall performance by using an experimental policy-capturing design. Managers in 5 jobs read hypothetical profiles describing employees' task, citizenship, and counterproductive performance and provided global ratings of performance. Within-subjects regression analyses indicated that the weights given to the 3 performance components varied across raters. Hierarchical cluster analyses indicated that raters' policies could be grouped into 3 homogeneous clusters: (a) task performance weighted highest, (b) counterproductive performance weighted highest, and (c) equal and large weights given to task and counterproductive performance. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that demographic variables were not related to raters' weights. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of emotional exhaustion to work attitudes, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors.

The authors investigated the negative consequences of emotional exhaustion for individual employees and their employers. On the basis of social exchange theory, the authors proposed that emotional exhaustion would predict job performance, 2 classes of organizational citizenship behavior, and turnover intentions. In addition, the authors posited that the relationship between emotional exhaustion and effective work behaviors would be mediated by organizational commitment. With only a few exceptions, the results of 2 field studies supported the authors' expectations. In addition, emotional exhaustion exerted an independent effect on these criterion variables beyond the impact of age, gender, and ethnicity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interactive effects of belongingness and charisma on helping and compliance.

This study tests the main and interactive effects of belongingness and perceived charismatic leadership on 2 forms of organizational citizenship behavior (helping and compliance). In line with expectations, a study of 115 manager-subordinate dyads demonstrates that employees show more helping (manager rated) when they have a stronger sense of belongingness at work and more helping as well as compliance when they perceive their leader to be more charismatic (subordinate rated). Belongingness partially mediates the relationship between charisma and helping. Also, as hypothesized, belongingness and charisma have interactive effects on employees' helping and compliance. The impact of perceived charisma on these behaviors is stronger for employees with a low sense of belongingness at work than for individuals with a higher sense of belongingness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The joint effects of personality and workplace social exchange relationships in predicting task performance and citizenship performance.

This field study examines the joint effects of social exchange relationships at work (leader-member exchange and team-member exchange) and employee personality (conscientiousness and agreeableness) in predicting task performance and citizenship performance. Consistent with trait activation theory, matched data on 230 employees, their coworkers, and their supervisors demonstrated interactions in which high quality social exchange relationships weakened the positive relationships between personality and performance. Results demonstrate the benefits of consonant predictions in which predictors and outcomes are matched on the basis of specific targets. We discuss theoretical and practical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A moderated mediation model of the relationship between organizational citizenship behaviors and job performance.

Addressing numerous calls for future research on understanding the theoretical mechanisms that explain the relationship between organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and job performance, this study focused on how an employee's relationships with coworkers mediate the relationship between his or her OCBs and his or her job performance. It also looked at how task autonomy might moderate this mediated relationship. The results of an empirical study involving 364 jewelry designers, 310 coworkers, and 284 supervisors indicated that coworker relations mediated the relationship between OCBs and job performance. In addition, task autonomy positively moderated both paths of this mediated relationship. Finally, these results hold for OCBs that are targeted at individuals but not for OCBs that are targeted toward organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational citizenship behavior and performance evaluations: Exploring the impact of task interdependence.

The influence of task interdependence on the importance attributed to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in evaluations of employee performance was investigated in 3 studies. In Study 1,238 undergraduates were exposed to a task interdependence manipulation and a unit-level performance manipulation and provided citizenship ratings. In Study 2,148 master of business administration students were exposed to a task interdependence manipulation and then rated the importance of OCB in their evaluations of employee performance. In Study 3,130 managers rated the task interdependence in their unit of principal responsibility and the importance of OCB in their overall evaluations of employee performance. The results suggest task interdependence may affect the importance attributed to OCB by evaluators. Implications of these results are explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of organizational citizenship behaviors on selection decisions in employment interviews.

This article reports on an experiment examining the effects of job candidates' propensity to exhibit organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) on selection decisions made in the context of a job interview. We developed videos that manipulated candidate responses to interview questions tapping task performance and citizenship behavior content in 2 administrative positions. Results obtained from 480 undergraduates provided support for our hypotheses that job candidates who exhibited higher levels of helping, voice, and loyalty behaviors were generally rated as more competent, received higher overall evaluations, and received higher salary recommendations than job candidates who exhibited lower levels of these behaviors. These effects held even after taking into account candidate responses regarding task performance. We also found that candidate responses to OCB-related questions tended to have a greater effect on selection decisions for the higher level position (supervisor of administrative personnel) than for the lower level one (administrative assistant). Finally, content analyses of open-ended responses indicated that participants' selection decisions were particularly sensitive to candidates who exhibited low levels of voice and helping behaviors. Implications and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expanding the criterion domain? A quantitative review of the OCB literature.

The authors investigate the construct validity of the organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)-task performance distinction by providing a quantitative review of the OCB literature. The authors extend previous meta-analytic reviews of the OCB literature by (a) using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to investigate the dimensionality of OCB, (b) using CFA to examine the distinction between OCB and task performance, and (c) examining the relationship between a latent OCB factor and task performance and attitudinal variables. Results support a single factor model of OCB that is distinct from, albeit strongly related to, task performance. In addition, results show that OCB consistently relates more strongly to attitudes than does task performance and shares a modest amount of variance with attitudinal correlates beyond task performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivations to work and organizational performance.

Measures of 3 types of motivation to work were related to 2 criteria of job performance, both of which reflect the degree to which the organization has rewarded individual behaviors. In the white-collar sample (N = 1047), composed largely of technical personnel, low performers were motivated primarily by the social environment of the job and, to a lesser extent, by the opportunity of gaining recognition through advancement; few significant relationships were found between intrinsic self-actualizing motivations and job performance. In the blue-collar sample (N = 421), no significant relationships were found between any of the motivational measures and job performance. With advancing age and tenure, work became more meaningful for high performers but less meaningful for low performers, although the importance of the social environment increased for both high and low performers. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting ratings of sales success with objective performance information.

What information about salesmen best predicts success in sales work as indicated by sales managers' appraisals of sales performance? To find out, 40 salesmen were studied for 6 months. "In all, 21 objective variables were intercorrelated with 19 appraisal variables… . the best predictors of appraisal factors: Spot Orders, Spot Orders vs. Par, Shop Orders/Shop Calls, New Business Orders, and New Business Orders vs. Par." The procedures were considered very promising for trial by others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The five-factor model of personality traits and organizational citizenship behaviors: A meta-analysis.

Using meta-analytic tests based on 87 statistically independent samples, we investigated the relationships between the five-factor model (FFM) of personality traits and organizational citizenship behaviors in both the aggregate and specific forms, including individual-directed, organization-directed, and change-oriented citizenship. We found that Emotional Stability, Extraversion, and Openness/Intellect have incremental validity for citizenship over and above Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, 2 well-established FFM predictors of citizenship. In addition, FFM personality traits predict citizenship over and above job satisfaction. Finally, we compared the effect sizes obtained in the current meta-analysis with the comparable effect sizes predicting task performance from previous meta-analyses. As a result, we found that Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Extraversion have similar magnitudes of relationships with citizenship and task performance, whereas Openness and Agreeableness have stronger relationships with citizenship than with task performance. This lends some support to the idea that personality traits are (slightly) more important determinants of citizenship than of task performance. We conclude with proposed directions for future research on the relationships between FFM personality traits and specific forms of citizenship, based on the current findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of an organizational control policy on absenteeism, performance, and satisfaction.

Examined the impact of an organizational control policy based on the concept of "legal compliance" with established organizational norms on 2 behavioral measures--absenteeism and performance--and 2 attitudinal measures of satisfaction. The control policy was experimentally manipulated in each of 2 experimental groups totaling 297 undergraduates. In one group, a compulsory attendance policy followed by a noncompulsory policy was employed, while in the other the sequence of administering the policies was reversed. Attendance, performance, and satisfaction measures were used as criteria in analyses of variance. Results indicate that a control policy based on legal compliance significantly improved attendance and performance and did not alter satisfaction levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In-role perceptions buffer the negative impact of low LMX on helping and enhance the positive impact of high LMX on voice.

In 2 field studies, we demonstrated that the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is moderated by employee role perceptions--the extent to which employees view specific types of OCB as in-role behavior (IRB) versus extra-role behavior (ERB). In addition, we predicted and demonstrated that the form of these interactions differs on the basis of the type of OCB. For helping (aimed at the supervisor or the organization), results show a substitute effect in which viewing helping as IRB buffers the negative effect of low-quality LMX on helping. In contrast, for voice (aimed at the supervisor or the organization), results demonstrate an enhancer effect in which viewing voice as IRB amplifies the positive effect of high-quality LMX on voice. We discuss theoretical and practical implications with an emphasis on how conceptual differences in types of OCB influence the interactive effects of role perceptions on LMX-OCB relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence of the construct validity of developmental ratings of managerial performance.

The construct validity of developmental ratings of managerial performance was assessed by using 2 data sets, each based on a different 360° rating instrument. Specifically, the authors investigated the nature of the constructs measured by developmental ratings, the structural relationships among those constructs, and the generalizability of results across 4 rater perspectives (boss, peer, subordinate, and self). A structure with 4 lower order factors (Technical Skills, Administrative Skills, Human Skills, and Citizenship Behaviors) and 2 higher order factors (Task Performance and Contextual Performance) was tested against competing models. Results consistently supported the lower order constructs, but the higher order structure was problematic, indicating that the structure of ratings is not yet well understood. Multisample analyses indicated few practically significant differences in factor structures across perspectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work stressors, role-based performance, and the moderating influence of organizational support.

As a test of the 2-dimensional model of work stressors, the present study proposed differential relationships between challenge stressors and hindrance stressors and role-based performance, which were expected to be moderated by organizational support. In a sample of 215 employees across 61 offices of a state agency, the authors obtained a positive relationship between challenge stressors and role-based performance and a negative relationship between hindrance stressors and role-based performance. In addition, organizational support moderated the relationship between challenge stressors and role-based performance but did not moderate the relationship between hindrance stressors and role-based performance. This suggests that organizations would benefit from increasing challenges in the workplace as long as they are supportive of employees and removing hindrances. Further implications for organizational theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relative importance of task and contextual performance dimensions to supervisor judgments of overall performance.

Although evidence supports the unique contribution of task performance and contextual performance to overall evaluations, little is known about the relative contribution that specific dimensions of contextual performance make to overall performance judgments. This study evaluated the extent to which supervisors consider task and contextual performance by using relative weights (J. W. Johnson, 2000) to statistically describe the relative importance of specific dimensions of each type of performance to overall performance ratings. Within each of 8 job families in a large organization, each of 4 dimensions of contextual performance made not only a unique contribution but a relatively important contribution to the overall evaluation. Evidence also supports the adaptive performance dimension of handling work stress as an aspect of contextual performance and job–task conscientiousness as an aspect of both task and contextual performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The causal relation between job attitudes and performance: A meta-analysis of panel studies.

Do job attitudes cause performance, or is it the other way around? To answer this perennial question, the author conducted meta-analytic regression analyses on 16 studies that had repeatedly measured performance and job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction or organizational commitment). The effect of job attitudes on subsequent performance, with baseline performance controlled, was weak but statistically significant (β = .06). The effect was slightly stronger for commitment than for satisfaction and depended negatively on time lag. Effects of performance on subsequent job attitudes were elusive (β = .00 across all studies), which suggests that job attitudes are more likely to influence performance than vice versa. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)