The causes of organizational citizenship behavior: A motivational analysis.

This study addressed the role of motives in organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Three motives were identified through factor analyses: prosocial values, organizational concern, and impression management. Scales that measured these motives and other variables known to covary with OCB were administered to 141 municipal employees and were correlated with self-, peer, and supervisor ratings of 5 aspects of OCB. Relative to the other motives, prosocial values motives were most strongly associated with OCB directed at individuals, and organizational concern motives were most strongly associated with OCB directed toward the organization. Each of the motives accounted for unique amounts of variance in OCB. The results suggest that motives may play an important role in OCB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature and dimensionality of organizational citizenship behavior: A critical review and meta-analysis.

This article reviews the literature on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and its dimensions as proposed by D. W. Organ (1988) and other scholars. Although it is assumed that the behavioral dimensions of OCB are distinct from one another, past research has not assessed this assumption beyond factor analysis. Using meta-analysis, the authors demonstrate that there are strong relationships among most of the dimensions and that the dimensions have equivalent relationships with the predictors (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, fairness, trait conscientiousness, and leader support) most often considered by OCB scholars. Implications of these results are discussed with respect to how the OCB construct should be conceptualized and measured in the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fostering good citizenship through ethical leadership: Exploring the moderating role of gender and organizational politics.

Considering the implications of social exchange theory as a context for social role behavior, we tested relations between ethical leadership and both person- and task-focused organizational citizenship behavior and examined the roles played by employee gender and politics perceptions. Although social exchange theory predicts that ethical leadership is positively associated with citizenship, social role theory predicts that the nature of this relationship may vary on the basis of gender and politics perceptions. Results from data collected from 288 supervisor–subordinate dyads indicate that the pattern of male versus female employees' citizenship associated with ethical leadership depends significantly on their perceptions of politics. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Abusive supervision and subordinates' organizational citizenship behavior.

The relationship between subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision and supervisors' evaluations of subordinates' organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) was explored among a sample of 373 Air National Guard members and their military supervisors. As predicted, the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates' OCB was stronger among subordinates who defined OCB as extra-role behavior (compared with those defining OCB as in-role behavior), and this effect was fully mediated by the interactive effect of procedural justice and OCB role definitions. The study's implications for theory and research are discussed, its limitations are identified, and directions for future research are suggested. (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)     

Relational correlates of interpersonal citizenship behavior: A social network perspective.

This study examines the role of social network ties in the performance and receipt of interpersonal citizenship behavior (ICB), one form of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). A field study involving 141 employees of a manufacturing firm provided evidence that social network ties are related to the performance and receipt of ICB. Results support hypothesized relationships, which are based on social exchange theory, suggesting strength of friendship is related to performance and receipt of ICB. Support was also found for impression management-based hypotheses suggesting that asymmetric influence and 3rd-party influence are related to the performance and receipt of ICB. These relationships were significant when controlling for job satisfaction, commitment, procedural justice, hierarchical level, demographic similarity, and job similarity. Implications and directions for future research are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Good soldiers and good actors: Prosocial and impression management motives as interactive predictors of affiliative citizenship behaviors.

Researchers have discovered inconsistent relationships between prosocial motives and citizenship behaviors. We draw on impression management theory to propose that impression management motives strengthen the association between prosocial motives and affiliative citizenship by encouraging employees to express citizenship in ways that both “do good” and “look good.” We report 2 studies that examine the interactions of prosocial and impression management motives as predictors of affiliative citizenship using multisource data from 2 different field samples. Across the 2 studies, we find positive interactions between prosocial and impression management motives as predictors of affiliative citizenship behaviors directed toward other people (helping and courtesy) and the organization (initiative). Study 2 also shows that only prosocial motives predict voice—a challenging citizenship behavior. Our results suggest that employees who are both good soldiers and good actors are most likely to emerge as good citizens in promoting the status quo. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships of role stressors with organizational citizenship behavior: A meta-analysis.

Several quantitative reviews have documented the negative relationships that role stressors have with task performance. Surprisingly, much less attention has been directed at the impact of role stressors on other aspects of job performance, such as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The goal of this study was to therefore estimate the overall relationships of role stressors (i.e., role ambiguity, conflict, and overload) with OCB. A meta-analysis of 42 existing studies indicated that role ambiguity and role conflict were negatively related to OCB and that these relationships were moderated by the target of OCB, type of organization, OCB rating source, and publication status. As expected, role conflict had a stronger negative relationship with OCB than it did with task performance. Finally, we found support for a path model in which job satisfaction mediated relationships of role stressors with OCB and for a positive direct relationship between role overload and OCB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supervisory guidance and behavioral integrity: Relationships with employee citizenship and deviant behavior.

The authors examined the effects of supervisory guidance (providing instruction to employees) and behavioral integrity (a pattern of word-deed alignment) on employee organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and deviant behavior. Results revealed a pattern of Supervisory Guidance x Behavioral Integrity interaction effects, such that relationships between guidance and outcome variables were dependent on the level of behavioral integrity exhibited by supervisors. The interactions suggest a positive relationship between supervisory guidance and OCBs when behavioral integrity is high but also a positive relationship between guidance and deviant behavior when behavioral integrity is low. These results were consistent across 2 independent field samples: 1 assessing individual employee perceptions of supervisory behavior and the other assessing aggregate perceptions of supervisory behavior among employees in bank branches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational citizenship behavior and workplace deviance: The role of affect and cognitions.

To investigate the role of affect and cognitions in predicting organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and workplace deviance behavior (WDB), data were collected from 149 registered nurses and their coworkers. Job affect was associated more strongly than were job cognitions with OCB directed at individuals, whereas job cognitions correlated more strongly than did job affect with OCB directed at the organization. With respect to WDB, job cognitions played a more important role in prediction when job affect was represented by 2 general mood variables (positive and negative affect). When discrete emotions were used to represent job affect, however, job affect played as important a role as job cognition variables, strongly suggesting the importance of considering discrete emotions in job affect research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of proactive personality in job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior: A relational perspective.

Drawing from a relational approach, the authors conceptualize the quality of leader–member exchange as a mediator and procedural justice climate as a contextual moderator for understanding the role of proactive personality in job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior. Data from a sample of 200 Chinese employees within 54 work groups were used to examine the hypothesized models. Results show that having a proactive personality was associated with employees establishing a high-quality exchange relationship with their supervisors; in turn, the quality of leader–member exchange was associated with greater job satisfaction and more organizational citizenship behaviors. Additionally, the relationship between proactive personality and organizational citizenship behavior was positively moderated by procedural justice climate within the group. Implications for management theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and citizenship behavior: The mediating role of job satisfaction.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 95(2) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2010-04488-016). The path coefficients presented in the figures are slight overestimates. For example, in Figure 1 (p. 952), the paths from Agreeableness and Conscientiousness to Job Satisfaction should be .11 and .23 instead of .12 and .28, the direct effects from Agreeableness and Conscientiousness to Citizenship Behavior should be .10 and .16 instead of .11 and .18, and the paths from Job Satisfaction to Citizenship Behavior should be .28 (.22) instead of .34 (.26). The statistical significance of the path coefficients is correct, and so are the substantive conclusions based on the better fit of the partially mediated models relative to the fully mediated models. Also, the meta-analytic estimates presented in Table 1 (p. 949), Table 2 (p. 950), and Table 3 (p. 951) are correct.] Using meta-analytic path analysis, the authors tested several structural models linking agreeableness and conscientiousness to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Results showed that the 2 personality traits had both direct effects and indirect effects—through job satisfaction—on overall OCB. Meta-analytic moderator analyses that distinguished between individual- and organization-targeted citizenship behaviors (OCB-I and OCB-O) showed that agreeableness was more closely related with OCB-I and conscientiousness with OCB-O. Finally, the path analyses predicting OCB-I and OCB-O offered further support for the general hypothesis that these 2 constructs are distinct. That is, the results of these analyses revealed that agreeableness had both direct and indirect effects on OCB-I but only indirect effects on OCB-O, and that for conscientiousness the pattern of direct and indirect effects was exactly opposite (direct and indirect effects on OCB-O but only indirect effects on OCB-I). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and citizenship behavior: The mediating role of job satisfaction: Correction.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 95(3) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2010-09357-015). The volume number of the original article was incorrectly identified. It should have been identified as Vol. 94.] Reports an error in Personality and citizenship behavior: The mediating role of job satisfaction by Remus Ilies, Ingrid Smithey Fulmer, Matthias Spitzmuller and Michael D. Johnson (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2009[Jul], Vol 94[4], 945-959). The path coefficients presented in the figures are slight overestimates. For example, in Figure 1 (p. 952), the paths from Agreeableness and Conscientiousness to Job Satisfaction should be .11 and .23 instead of .12 and .28, the direct effects from Agreeableness and Conscientiousness to Citizenship Behavior should be .10 and .16 instead of .11 and .18, and the paths from Job Satisfaction to Citizenship Behavior should be .28 (.22) instead of .34 (.26). The statistical significance of the path coefficients is correct, and so are the substantive conclusions based on the better fit of the partially mediated models relative to the fully mediated models. Also, the meta-analytic estimates presented in Table 1 (p. 949), Table 2 (p. 950), and Table 3 (p. 951) are correct. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2009-10167-018.) Using meta-analytic path analysis, the authors tested several structural models linking agreeableness and conscientiousness to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Results showed that the 2 personality traits had both direct effects and indirect effects—through job satisfaction—on overall OCB. Meta-analytic moderator analyses that distinguished between individual- and organization-targeted citizenship behaviors (OCB-I and OCB-O) showed that agreeableness was more closely related with OCB-I and conscientiousness with OCB-O. Finally, the path analyses predicting OCB-I and OCB-O offered further support for the general hypothesis that these 2 constructs are distinct. That is, the results of these analyses revealed that agreeableness had both direct and indirect effects on OCB-I but only indirect effects on OCB-O, and that for conscientiousness the pattern of direct and indirect effects was exactly opposite (direct and indirect effects on OCB-O but only indirect effects on OCB-I). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 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)     

Servant leadership, procedural justice climate, service climate, employee attitudes, and organizational citizenship behavior: A cross-level investigation.

This study tests the influence of servant leadership on 2 group climates, employee attitudes, and organizational citizenship behavior. Results from a sample of 815 employees and 123 immediate supervisors revealed that commitment to the supervisor, self-efficacy, procedural justice climate, and service climate partially mediated the relationship between servant leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. Cross-level interaction results revealed that procedural justice climate and positive service climate amplified the influence of commitment to the supervisor on organizational citizenship behavior. Implications of these results for theory and practice and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-interest and other-orientation in organizational behavior: Implications for job performance, prosocial behavior, and personal initiative.

In this article, the authors develop the self-concern and other-orientation as moderators hypothesis. The authors argue that many theories on work behavior assume humans to be either self-interested or to be social in nature with strong other-orientation but that this assumption is empirically invalid and may lead to overly narrow models of work behavior. The authors instead propose that self-concern and other-orientation are independent. The authors also propose that job performance, prosocial behavior, and personal initiative are a function of (a) individual-level attributes, such as job characteristics when employees are high in self-concern, and (b) group-level attributes, such as justice climate when employees are high in other-orientation. Three studies involving 4 samples of employees from a variety of organizations support these propositions. Implications are discussed for theory on work behavior and interventions geared toward job enrichment and team-based working. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Good citizens to the end? It depends: Empathy and concern with future consequences moderate the impact of a short-term time horizon on organizational citizenship behaviors.

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) can be viewed as a social dilemma in which short-term employee sacrifice leads to long-term organizational benefits. With 3 studies, the authors evaluated a set of interrelated hypotheses based on a social dilemma analysis of OCBs. In Study 1, participants rated OCBs as costly to an employee in the short run and beneficial to an organization in the long run, indicating that OCBs were viewed as social dilemmas. In Studies 2 and 3, self-reported (Study 2) and supervisor-rated (Study 3) likelihood of engaging in OCBs was higher among those who adopted a long-term horizon within an organization and those high in empathy (M. H. Davis, 1983). Most important, a short-term time horizon led to a steeper decline in OCBs among employees low in empathy and those concerned with the future consequences of their actions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Climate as a moderator of the relationship between leader-member exchange and content specific citizenship: Safety climate as an exemplar.

The present study integrates role theory, social exchange, organizational citizenship, and climate research to suggest that employees will reciprocate implied obligations of leadership-based social exchange (e.g., leader-member exchange [LMX]) by expanding their role and behaving in ways consistent with contextual behavioral expectations (e.g., work group climate). Using safety climate as an exemplar, the authors found that the relationship between LMX and subordinate safety citizenship role definitions was moderated by safety climate. In summary, high-quality LMX relationships resulted in expanded safety citizenship role definitions when there was a positive safety climate and there was no such expansion under less positive safety climates. The authors also found that safety citizenship role definitions were significantly related to safety citizenship behavior. Implications for both social exchange theory and safety research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rational self-interest and other orientation in organizational behavior: A critical appraisal and extension of Meglino and Korsgaard (2004).

B. M. Meglino and M. A. Korsgaard (2004; see record 2004-21169-004). argued that rational self-interest varies across individuals and negatively relates to other orientation (OO). OO moderates effects of job characteristics on attitudes, motivation, and helping. Viewing organizations as social dilemmas in which employees face a mixture of competitive and cooperative incentives, the author argues in this article that strength of self-interest links to self-concern (SC), which should be distinguished from OO. SC and OO are orthogonal and unipolar. Implications are that some propositions by Meglino and Korsgaard need to be rewritten in terms of SC or OO, and that SC is predicted to moderate effects of self-related variables (e.g., job characteristics), whereas OO might moderate effects of social variables (e.g., team climate) on satisfaction, motivation, and helping. This also implies that when both SC and OO are strong (weak), individual- and group-level constructs are both (in)valid predictors of satisfaction, motivation, and helping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social neuroscience: Understanding the pieces fosters understanding the whole and vice versa.

Social science and neuroscience perspectives represent two ends of a continuum of levels of organization studied in psychology. Human behavior as a whole unfolds at social levels of organization, whereas much of the research in psychology has focused on cognitive and biological pieces of this whole. Recent evidence underscores the complementary nature of social, cognitive, and biological levels of analysis and how research integrating these levels can foster more comprehensive theories of the mechanisms underlying complex behavior and the mind. This research underscores the unity of psychology and the importance of retaining multilevel integrative research that spans molar and molecular levels of analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)