Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) means volunteering to go above and beyond the call of duty in attempt to benefit the organization or its members. Though OCB is not formally required of employees (i.e., it does not show up in the job description), it is highly valued by organizations. Thus, supervisors and peers often consider this type of behavior in formal performance appraisals. But how do employees feel about this? In other words, since OCB is not absolutely required of employees, do employees think it is fair to be graded on it?
THE RESEARCH FINDINGS
In this study, researchers (Johnson et al., 2009) 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 OCB in performance appraisals than to not include it. Importantly, employees felt that it is most fair to include OCB in performance appraisals when it constitutes about 30-50% of the total performance rating, with the rest representing core task behaviors, or the basic requirements of the job.
Additionally, the researchers found that while women generally preferred higher weightings of OCB (25-50%), men believed that a slightly lower amount (20-30%) was most fair. The researchers 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 behavior than men at work. Understandably, they want their performance ratings to account for this.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Overall, it is clear that employees consider OCB to be an important and rate-able portion of their job performance. However, the extent to which OCB constitutes the total performance appraisal score may still depend partially 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.
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