Tag Archives: organizational citizenship behavior

You’re an Inspiration: Leaders, Followers, and OCB

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Topic: Citizenship Behavior, Leadership
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (JUL 2011)
Article: Leading by Example: The Case of Leader OCB
Authors: T. Yaffe & R. Kark
Reviewed By: Thaddeus Rada

Although many definitions of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) define such behavior as “extra” behavior that falls outside of the formal job description, most organizations want, and may even expect, employees to engage in OCB. This may be especially true for leaders of teams, who are generally expected to set the example of what is expected from all members of the team. As such, organizations have an interest in knowing if leaders’ OCB can serve as inspiration or motivation for other employees to engage in OCB, particularly at the group level (i.e. would OCB be more prevalent, or viewed as more important, in a group led by an individual who engaged in frequent OCB, compared to a group led by a leader who did not frequently engage in OCB). A new study by Tal Yaffe and Ronit Kark addresses this issue, examining the relationship between leader and follower OCB, and potential moderators and mediators of the relationship between the two types of OCB.

The authors collected survey data from over 60 work units in a large Israeli organization. Among the authors’ hypotheses, they believed that higher levels of leader OCB would be associated with higher levels of group OCB, as well as stronger group beliefs about the worthiness of OCB. They also hypothesized that leader (physical) distance, and group perceptions of the leader, would have an impact on the degree to which leader OCB facilitated group OCB.

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Role stressors and organizational citizenship behavior: Don’t stress those workers out

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Topic: Citizenship Behavior, Stress
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (JAN 2011)
Article: Relationships of role stressors with organizational citizenship behavior: A meta-analysis
Authors: Erin Eatough, Chu-Hsiang Chang, Stephanie Miloslavic, and Russell Johnson
Reviewed By: Bobby Bullock

Job performance is not only evaluated by looking at an employee’s formal tasks but also through extra-role behaviors like organizational citizenship behavior (OCB, or behavior that goes beyond job requirements to support and benefit the workplace).  However, while researchers have looked at a myriad of predictors of formal performance, much less attention has been awarded to predictors of OCB.  To address this, Eatough, Chang, Miloslavic, and Johnson (2011) conducted a meta-analysis to determine the effects of occupational role stressors on OCB.

Role stressors, or factors that strain the behaviors and demands associated with a particular job, include role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload.  Role ambiguity refers to unclear or vague performance expectations (Katz & Kahn, 1978).  Role conflict refers to simultaneous contradictory expectations from coworkers and employers (Katz & Kahn, 1978).  Role overload is when employees feel overloaded with tasks and responsibilities, or when too much is expected (Rizzo, House, & Lirtzman, 1970).  The importance of examining the role stressor-OCB relationship is obvious when considering the importance of OCB.  OCB is linked to performance, customer satisfaction, job satisfaction, organizational effectiveness, and profitability (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Paine, & Bachrach, 2000; Organ, Podsakoff, & MacKenzie, 2006). In the meta-analysis, Eatough et al. (2011) found the following:

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Is it Fair to Include “Citizenship” in Performance Appraisals?

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Topic: Citizenship Behavior, Performance Appraisal
Publication: Journal of Business and Psychology (DEC 2009)
Article: Organizational citizenship behavior in performance evaluations: Distributive justice or injustice
Authors: S.K., Johnson, C.L. Holladay, & M.A. Quinones
Reviewed By: Benjamin Granger

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs) are volitional work behaviors that go above and beyond the call of duty and are intended to benefit the organization and/or its members.  Though OCBs are not  formally required of employees (e.g., don’t show up in the job description), they are highly valued by organizations. Thus, supervisors (and peers) often consider employees’ OCBs in formal performance appraisals.  But, how do employees feel about this?  In other words, since OCBs are not absolutely required of employees, do employees find this practice fair?

Johnson, Holladay, and Quinones (2009) investigated the extent to which employees consider including OCBs in formal performance appraisals fair. The authors conducted two separate experiments, one employing a sample of 78 employees from diverse organizations and industries and the other employing a large sample of undergraduate students.  In general, the findings of both studies were similar.

Overall, employees reported that it is fairer to include OCBs in performance appraisals than to not include them. Importantly, employees felt that it is most fair to include OCBs in performance appraisals when they constitute about 30 – 50% of the total performance rating (While the remaining represents Core Task Behaviors).

Johnson et al. also found that while females generally preferred higher weightings of OCBs (between 25 and 50%) men found a 20 – 30% weighting of OCBs to be most fair. Johnson et al. speculated that the findings for gender represent differences in the typical gender roles of males and females. For example, they suggested that in general, females are expected to engage in more helping behaviors (i.e., OCBs) than men at work and they want their performance ratings to account for this. 

Whether this is true or not (and we welcome your personal insight on this matter!), it is clear that employees  consider OCBs to be an important and rate-able portion of their job performance. Ultimately, employees do find it fair to include OCBs in performance appraisals, but the extent to which OCBs makeup the total performance appraisal depends largely on gender.

Johnson, S.K., Holladay, C.L., & Quinones, M.A. (2009). Organizational citizenship behavior in performance evaluations: Distributive justice or injustice. Journal of Business and Psychology, 24, 409-418.