A Conceptual Model of Organizational Citizenship Behavior Motives

Abstract

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) creates social capital in the organization and facilitates organizational success. While much is known about the antecedents of OCB, little is known about the motives underlying OCB. This limits our understanding on why employees engage in OCB, and our ability to promote OCB. To address this, I present a theoretical model that explains how self-identity levels (collective, relational, and individual) predict different OCB motives (organizational concern, prosocial, and impression management) among employees. I argue that the collective identity leads to an organizational concern motive, which in turn predicts a preference for and greater engagement in OCB-Organizational (OCBO), while relational identity creates a prosocial motive that predicts a preference for and greater engagement in OCB-Interpersonal (OCBI). Next, I propose temporal orientation as a first-stage moderator between individual self-identity and impression management motive, where employees high on ...