Daily Dynamics of Teachers' Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Social and Emotional Antecedents and Outcomes.

Shiri Lavy

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02863

Abstract

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is considered vital for organizations’ performance, and there is notable interest in factors that foster it. However, recent research has questioned the absolute positivity of OCB and pointed to its understudied possible adverse effects (e.g., on employees’ well-being). The present research aims to shed light on these issues by exploring the daily dynamics of employees’ social and emotional work lives’ interplay with their OCB. Specifically, the research focuses on teachers, whose job enables notable OCB and whose performance is profoundly affected by it. Based on the literature linking work relationships and emotional experiences with OCB, we examined the interplay between teachers’ OCB and their daily perceived supervisor and colleague support, and daily positive and negative emotional experiences. Sixty teachers completed self-report questionnaires of the research variables every day for 12 workdays. Results indicated significant associations of daily supervisor support and negative emotions with increased OCB on the following day, links of daily positive emotions with decreased OCB on the following day, and associations of daily OCB with increased negative emotions on the following day. These findings point to daily processes that may underlie longer term effects of OCB (such as burnout), including a potential downward spiral of negative emotions that seem to result from OCB and reinforce it.

Highlights

Recent years have seen a notable increase in the study of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), after research has consistently shown its associations with a host of positive organizational outcomes, including various aspects of organizational effectiveness (Podsakoff et al, 2009)
The Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) analyses (Table 2) partially supported H1, while indicating that supervisor support on a specific day was associated with increased teacher Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) on the following day (b = 0.11, p < 0.05)
The present study aimed to provide a balanced exploration of the daily dynamics of teachers’ OCB with social support and emotions

Summary

Introduction

Recent years have seen a notable increase in the study of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), after research has consistently shown its associations with a host of positive organizational outcomes, including various aspects of organizational effectiveness (Podsakoff et al, 2009). OCB generally refers to employees’ extra-role activities, typically representing “individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and in the aggregate promotes the efficient and effective functioning of the organization” Recent definitions of OCB are broad, and may even include all performance that supports the social and psychological environment of the organization/employees (Organ, 1997). As compellingly demonstrated in a meta-analysis of 168 independent samples, OCB was positively associated with increased managerial ratings of employee performance, productivity, efficiency, and customer satisfaction, reduced costs, and decreased employee turnover intentions, turnover, and absenteeism (Podsakoff et al, 2009). It was argued to facilitate a positive working environment, which enables organizations to attract and retain employees (Organ, 1988; Organ et al, 2006) and increase employees’ positive attitudes toward their job and the organization (e.g., Koopman et al, 2016)

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Conclusion