Organizational citizenship behaviour and employee's strain: Examining the buffering effects of leader support and participation in decision making

Team Citizenship Pressure: How Does It Relate to OCB and Citizenship Fatigue

The aim of this research is to shed light on the phenomenon of citizenship pressure as a team-level construct. Building on the conservation of resources theory, the study used a moderated-mediation model to explore whether team organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) mediates the relationship between team citizenship pressure and team citizenship fatigue and whether this mediation is moderated by perceived supervisor support. Results from a study of 91 professional teams in the educational system indicate that team citizenship pressure had a significant and positive relationship with team OCB, as well as with team citizenship fatigue. The results also support the overall moderated-mediation model, but contrary to the hypothesized pattern of interaction, we found that team citizenship pressure was significantly and positively correlated with OCB when perceived supervisor support was low, but not when it was high. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

Paying Gratitude Forward at Work

Abstract. Since workers are increasingly suffering from burnout, there is a need for insights into how burnout can be decreased to improve subjective well-being. The broaden-and-build theory proposes that gratitude increases well-being through an upward spiral. Few studies have examined whether gratitude decreases burnout and what mediating behaviors explain this relationship. Using an international sample of employees ( N = 353), this study examines whether work-specific gratitude negatively relates to exhaustion and disengagement. Additionally, since gratitude stimulates helping through upstream reciprocity, this study investigates whether interpersonal helping behavior (IHB) mediates these relationships. Our study showed a negative effect of work-specific gratitude on disengagement and exhaustion and a negative relationship between work-specific gratitude and disengagement, mediated by IHB, suggesting that gratitude stimulates IHB, thereby alleviating disengagement.

Helping coworkers only when I have more? Integrating social comparison, attribution and conservation of resources theories

Purpose

Drawing upon conservation of resources (COR) and attribution theories, prior research in helping behavior has mainly focused on an independent view of the helper’s personal resources. This perspective, however, falls short of capturing the comparative nature of personal resources and attributions in a helping context. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to develop a theoretical model that helps predict employees’ decisions to help or not to help.

Design/methodology/approach

A theoretical model was developed by integrating social comparison, COR and attribution theories.

Findings

The theoretical model proposes the following. First, when employees perceive that they have fewer personal resources than a coworker who needs help, they are less likely to help. Second, when employees perceive that they have more personal resources than a coworker who needs help, they make causal attributions as to why the coworker failed to deploy personal resources. Finally, when employees have more personal resources than a coworker who needs help, they are more likely to help if they make situational, unstable and uncontrollable attributions to the coworker’s failure to deploy personal resources.

Originality/value

This paper extends the literature by offering a theoretical model that emphasizes comparisons and attributions of personal resources in a helping context. Additionally, this paper offers several managerial implications that help managers manage helping behavior effectively.

Do high-performance HR practices augment OCBs? The role of psychological climate and work engagement

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between high-performance HR practices (HPHRPs), psychological climate (PC), work engagement (WE) and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) among IT professionals. This study further intends to provide a framework to understand and predict factors affecting organizational citizenship performance in the Indian IT sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis is based on a sample of 464 IT employees working in 29 information-intensive global organizations, and the statistical method employed is structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results of the present study demonstrated the significance of employees’ perceptions of PC through which HPHRPs can boost employees’ WE, which, in turn, has come out to be the principal mechanism through which HPHRPs and PC have impact on OCBs.

Research limitations/implications

The results have established a platform where HR managers can be motivated to open up new avenues to employees where they can be psychologically involved in work roles and feel highly motivated to bring their good spirits at the workplace in order to benefit the organization at large.

Originality/value

This research explores the changing dynamics of Indian business scenario in the IT context. IT professionals may perceive and react differently to the HR system in the organization and have higher expectations of congenial working conditions that enhance their capability to employ personal skills and resources in the realization of organizational goals. Thus, the study tries to tap their experiences and perceptions and map their performances in the organization.

Teachers’ skill flexibility

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine a model linking school principals’ strategic, interpersonal skills and teachers’ participation in decision making (PDM) to predict teachers’ skill flexibility (SF) during the implementation of educational reform.

Design/methodology/approach

From 113 randomly selected elementary schools in Israel that had undergone a reform called “New Horizon,” 1,482 teachers participated in the study. Data were analyzed through the multilevel structural equation modeling.

Findings

Results showed that only principals’ strategic skills lead to teachers’ PDM, which in turn predicts teachers’ SF. Furthermore, based on the upper echelon theory (Hambrick and Mason, 1984), principals’ strategic skills promoted teachers’ SF through teachers’ PDM.

Research limitations/implications

This research enables expanding the theoretical upper echelon model, both in the context of leaders’ skills and in their relation to change outcomes.

Practical implications

Using of strategic skills will help principals influence teachers to participate in decision making, adapt to the reform and promote their ability to use skills according to changing needs.

Originality/value

The results of this research emphasize the strategic role of school principals as the leaders of organizational change and promoters of its outcomes.

A theoretical analysis of immigrant employees’ organizational citizenship behaviors in organizations

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical model describing how immigrant employees’ organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) are influenced by their immigrant status. Additionally, this study attempts to explore the mediating role of perceived job mobility as well as the moderating role of organizational tenure in the relationship between immigrant status and OCBs.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual analysis was performed.

Findings

Drawing upon social identity, self-categorization, and impression management theories, this study proposes the following. First, an immigrant employee’s perceived different categorization of employment and organizational status will have a negative impact on his or her challenge-oriented OCB. Second, an immigrant employee’s perceived categorization of employment and organizational status will have a positive impact on his or her affiliation-oriented OCB. Third, perceived job mobility mediates the relationship between the perceived different categorization of employment and organizational status and challenge- and affiliation-oriented OCBs of an immigrant employee. Finally, an immigrant employee’s organizational tenure weakens (or strengthens) the negative (or positive) impact of immigrant status on challenge-oriented (or affiliation-oriented) OCB.

Originality/value

From a theoretical standpoint, this study provides a novel theoretical base that guides future research on immigrant employees’ OCBs in organizations. More importantly, this study offers recommendations that help maximize the effectiveness of immigrant employee’s OCBs.

The costs of being rejected

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a theoretical model describing how newcomers’ team-member exchange (TMX), team identification and workplace loneliness may be affected by existing team members’ rejections to the newcomers’ interpersonal helping behavior (IHB).

Design/methodology/approach

A theoretical analysis was performed.

Findings

The authors propose the following propositions. First, higher levels of IHB rejections result in lower levels of TMX and team identification and higher levels of workplace loneliness experienced by a newcomer. Second, a newcomer’s TMX mediates the relationship between IHB rejections and the newcomer’s workplace loneliness and team identification. Finally, a newcomer’s team identification mediates the relationship between IHB rejections and the newcomer’s workplace loneliness.

Practical implications

This theoretical study provides the following managerial implications. First, managers need to proactively implement tactics that help satisfy newcomers’ affiliation needs through the development of strong formal work relationships with existing members. Second, managers are advised to consider the use of tactics that facilitate the development of effective informal relationships between newcomers and existing team members upon the entry of the team. Third, managers need to implement informal social events where newcomers have the opportunity to exhibit their helpful behaviors. Fourth, managers should periodically inform existing team members of some common anxieties and fears of newcomers that are triggered by entering new interpersonal environments. Finally, managers may utilize mentoring programs that help facilitate newcomers’ accurate interpretations of phenomena occurring around them.

Originality/value

This theoretical study is the first study that examines consequences of IHB rejections in organizations.

An Attitude Strength and Self-Perception Framework Regarding the Bi-directional Relationship of Job Satisfaction with Extra-Role and In-Role Behavior: The Doubly Moderating Role of Work Centrality

Studies have identified variables either moderating the extent to which job satisfaction predicts work behavior or moderating the reverse impact of work behavior on job satisfaction. Based on an attitude strength and self-perception framework, we argue that certain variables may moderate both the predictive utility of job satisfaction for work behavior and the impact of work behavior on job satisfaction. Specifically focusing on work centrality, we hold that high work centrality renders job satisfaction a strong job attitude, whereas low work centrality renders job satisfaction a weak job attitude. Hence, the predictive utility of job satisfaction for both extra-role behavior and in-role behavior should be higher the more work is central to employees. In contrast, the influence of extra-role behavior, but not of in-role behavior, on job satisfaction should be higher the less work is central to employees. Results of a two-wave study (N = 176) were in line with these predictions. We discuss further variables that may play a similar role for the bi-directional relationship between job satisfaction and work behavior.

Personality and contextual antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior: A study of two occupational groups

This paper examines the impact of personality trait of dispositional affect and contextual variables of multiple commitments on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) in two occupational groups. Three dimensions of OCBs were considered: helping, civic virtue and sportsmanship behaviors. We used positive and negative affectivity scale to measure dispositional affect. For commitments, we examined affective and normative organizational and occupational commitments. The data were collected from 180 engineers and 180 teachers. The findings show that affect, multiple commitments and occupation all have significant impacts on different dimensions of OCBs. Dispositional affect had the most influence on all three dimensions of OCBs. In addition, helping behavior is affected by normative organizational commitment while civic virtue behavior is influenced by affective commitments (both organizational and occupational) and occupation. Sportsmanship behavior is explained by occupation and affective organizational commitment. Occupation has been shown to make a unique contribution to understanding OCBs. The present study showed that the teachers, for example, exhibited more civic virtue and sportsmanship behaviors than the engineers. Implications of the findings for future research and practice are discussed.

The impact of work engagement and workaholism on well-being

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper are twofold. First, the authors examined the effects of two types of working hard (i.e. work engagement, workaholism) on employees’ well-being (i.e. job satisfaction, perceived stress, and sleep problems). Second, the authors tested the extent to which both types of working hard mediate the relationship between three types of work-related social support (i.e. perceived organizational support, perceived supervisor support, and perceived coworker support) and employees’ well-being.

Design/methodology/approach

– An online questionnaire was administered to 343 PhD students.

Findings

– Results revealed that work engagement mediates the relationships between perceived organizational support and job satisfaction and perceived stress. Perceived organizational support has also a direct positive impact on job satisfaction and a direct negative impact on perceived stress and sleep problems. Furthermore, work engagement mediates the influence of perceived supervisor support on job satisfaction and perceived stress. Finally, workaholism was found to mediate the relationships between perceived coworker support, and job satisfaction, perceived stress, and sleep problems.

Practical implications

– The findings suggest that managers should promote practices in order to foster work engagement and prevent workaholism. In line with this, the findings indicated that the most powerful source of support that fosters work engagement is perceived supervisor support. Organizations should, therefore, train their supervisors to be supportive in their role of directing, evaluating and coaching subordinates or encourage supervisors to have regular meetings with their subordinates. Additionally, the results showed that perceived coworker support is the only source of work-related social support that has a negative influence on workaholism. Managers should foster coworker support, for instance by encouraging informal mentoring among employees in order to build a strong social network.

Originality/value

– Because scholars argued that each type of work-related social support might have different consequences and might vary in terms of strength of associations with their outcomes, the study aimed to examine the concomitant effects of three forms of work-related social support on two types of working hard which, in turn, influence employees’ well-being.