Examining Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the Context of Human Resource Development

Abstract

Over the past three decades, scholarship on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has grown tremendously and now enjoys a place of relative importance in the managerial, behavioral, and psychological literature. Researchers have traditionally focused their attention on understanding the nomological network of OCB, including its antecedents, predictors, correlates, and outcomes. Such work has also expanded to include cross-disciplinary investigations in areas such as health care, education, public organizations, and service industries, to name a few. Despite the relative prominence of OCB in other literature bases, OCB receives only minimal attention in the field of human resource development (HRD). The purpose of this integrative literature review was to examine and synthesize the available literature on OCB with specific consideration to the aims of the HRD field, namely, performance and learning and development. I present a synthesis of the relevant literature and conclude with a proposed research agenda and implications for HRD theory and practice.