Stress at Work Can Lead To Less Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Topic(s): citizenship behavior, job satisfaction, stress
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (2011)
Article: Relationships of role stressors with organizational citizenship behavior: A meta-analysis
Authors: E.M. Eatough, C.-H. Chang, S.A. Miloslavic, R.E. 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), which means behavior that goes beyond job requirements to support and benefit the workplace. However, while researchers have investigated myriad predictors of formal performance, much less attention has been focused on predictors of OCB. To address this, the authors (Eatough, Chang, Miloslavic, & Johnson, 2011) conducted a meta-analysis (or statistical combination and analysis of many previous studies) to determine the effects of occupational role stressors on OCB.

WHAT ARE ROLE STRESSORS?

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. Role conflict refers to simultaneous contradictory expectations from coworkers and employers. Role overload is when employees feel overloaded with tasks and responsibilities, or when too much is expected. 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. In the meta-analysis, the authors found the following:

  • The presence of each of the three role stressors had negative impacts on job satisfaction (role ambiguity had the strongest negative relationship and role overload had the weakest).
  • Job satisfaction was positively related to OCB, indicating that happy employees are more helpful employees.
  • Both role ambiguity and role conflict had significant negative relationships with OCB, in that greater ambiguity and conflict each led to decreased OCB.
  • Role overload had no negative relationship with OCB. This may be because when employees feel overloaded, they respond with increased effort; both in-role and extra-role.
  • The strongest model was where job satisfaction mediated (or explained) the role ambiguity-OCB relationship. In other words, when employees lacked understanding of what was expected of them (role ambiguity), this led to much less job satisfaction than any other role stressor. The decreased job satisfaction in turn led to decreased displays of OCB. This finding shows just how crucial it is to be clear about job expectations.

ORGANIZATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

The findings above are important for a few reasons. First, they show that the three role stressors are distinct and should therefore be treated as individual areas of concern for leaders, employees, and researchers. Lumping them all together into a single concept does not respect their distinct effects on performance, job satisfaction, and OCB. Second, they show that role stressors can negatively influence both OCB and job satisfaction. These findings suggest that organizations should take steps to address and alleviate these three role stressors. The authors suggest taking the following steps to reduce role stressors and increase OCB:

  • Provide clear job descriptions and make sure that employees are always aware of what is expected of them. This will reduce role ambiguity.
  • Create a work environment that encourages feedback, which can provide information and reduce role ambiguity and conflict.
  • Provide high organizational support, make fair decisions, and adequately reward performance. This will increase job satisfaction, which will in turn increase OCB. 

 

Eatough, E., Chang, C., Miloslavic, S., & Johnson, R. (2011). Relationships of role stressors with organizational citizenship behavior: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(3), 619-632.