Role In Behavior Research Articles

Driving Organizational Citizenship Behaviors and Salesperson In-Role Behavior Performance: The Role of Management Control and Perceived Organizational Support

Interest in management control approaches and organizational factors associated with higher levels of salesperson performance is reflected in research streams concerned with behavior-based control strategies and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). This study makes two distinct additions to the literature relating to control, organizational citizenship behaviors and salesperson performance. First, the study distinguishes between salesperson in-role behavior performance and outcome performance to model in-role behavior performance as a mediator between OCB and outcome performance. Second, the work supports sales manager control as an antecedent to OCB. A second model introduces perceived organizational support (POS) as an additional antecedent to salesperson OCB, and more important, as a consequence of sales manager control. This construct has not been included in prior salesperson OCB studies. Results show sales manage control has a stronger impact on OCB through POS, than directly, and POS has a strong impact on salesperson OCB.

Different temporary work status, different behaviors in organization

This study examined the contributions of the psychological contract framework to an understanding of the effects of different work statuses on employees’ behavior. We compared temporary firm workers (n=71) with core workers (n=268) and direct-hire temporary workers (n=149) with core workers (n=42) in two different samples. As expected, temporary firm workers consider that they receive fewer socio-emotional inducements from the organization they work for (opportunities for promotion, career development, long-term employment), but direct-hire temporary workers who succeeded in having their contracts extended had a psychological contract in which socio-emotional components predominated. A psychological contract with a predominance of socio-emotional components was important for organizations because it mediated the influence of work status on civic virtue behaviors on the part of temporary firm workers, and directly and positively influenced these behaviors in direct-hired temporary workers (behaviors as assessed by their supervisors). Contrary to the hypothesis, psychological contract had a direct and positive influence on the in-role behavior of direct-hire temporary workers. The implications of the findings for psychological contract research are discussed.

Customers as Good Soldiers: Examining Citizenship Behaviors in Internet Service Deliveries

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) research is extended to the customer domain by examining the role of customer behavior in Internet service deliveries. Based on the OCB framework, it was hypothesized that a conceptual distinction between in-role behaviors (i.e., task performance) and extra-role behaviors (i.e., citizenship behavior) can be extended to customers who participate in service delivery. Survey data show that customers differentiate coproduction behaviors from customer citizenship behaviors. Furthermore, these two behaviors had different sets of predictors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed from the perspective of OCB theories.

Antecedents and Consequences of Customer-Company Identification: Expanding the Role of Relationship Marketing.

This article presents an empirical test of organizational identification in the context of customer-company (C-C) relationships. It investigates whether customers identify with companies and what the antecedents and consequences of such identification are. The model posits that perceived company characteristics, construed external image, and the perception of the company's boundary-spanning agent lead to C-C identification. In turn, such identification is expected to impact both in-role behavior (i.e., product utilization) as well as extra-role behavior (i.e., citizenship). The model was tested in a consultative selling context of pharmaceutical sales reps calling on physicians. Results from the empirical test indicated that customers do indeed identify with organizations and that C-C identification positively impacts both product utilization behavior and extra-role behavior even when the effect of brand perception is accounted for. Second, the study found that the organization's characteristics as well as the salesperson's characteristics contributed to the development of C-C identification.

In-Role or Extra-Role Organizational Citizenship Behavior: WhichAre We Measuring?

This study examined the extra-role nature of behavioral items from a popular measure of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). Presented with a list of both OCB items and items reflecting in-role behaviors, a majority of participants (85% or more; N = 248) categorized 17 of 30 OCBs as in-role work behaviors. Items tapping OCBs in the conscientiousness and courtesy dimensions were considered in-role more frequently than items in other OCB dimensions. Altruism and civic virtue items were more frequently considered extra-role than items in other OCB dimensions. Negative relationships between supervisory experience and the propensity to view altruism, courtesy, and sportsmanship OCBs as in-role were found. Implications for future research and recommendations for OCB scale use are discussed.

Doing Unto Others: The Reciprocity of Helping Behavior in Organizations

Reciprocity is a fundamental aspect of social life, and a phenomenon studied from a wide variety of philosophical, theological, and social scientific perspectives. In this study, we use social exchange theory to investigate why employees help other employees. We hypothesize, based on the norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960), that a significant cause of an employee's helping behavior is how much organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) the employee has received from coworkers. To provide evidence of the discriminant validity of OCB received as an antecedent of helping behavior, we also assess its effects on another form of extra-role behavior, voice, as well as in-role performance. We found, in a sample of 157 employee-supervisor dyads, that OCB received was related to helping behavior after controlling for several antecedents of helping behavior identified in past research, and was less related to voice and in-role behavior, as hypothesized. Implications for theory and practice are presented.

Abusive supervision and subordinates' organizational citizenship behavior.

The relationship between subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision and supervisors' evaluations of subordinates' organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) was explored among a sample of 373 Air National Guard members and their military supervisors. As predicted, the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinates' OCB was stronger among subordinates who defined OCB as extra-role behavior (compared with those defining OCB as in-role behavior), and this effect was fully mediated by the interactive effect of procedural justice and OCB role definitions. The study's implications for theory and research are discussed, its limitations are identified, and directions for future research are suggested.

Loyalty to supervisor and trust in supervisor of workers in Chinese joint ventures: a test of two competing models

This study examines the factors affecting joint venture employees' loyalty to supervisor in the People's Republic of China. The trust framework and justice framework are employed to develop two competing models for studying the antecedents and consequences of loyalty to supervisor in the context of Chinese joint ventures. The direct effect model proposes that there is a direct effect of employees' perception of interactional justice and of trust in supervisor on their loyalty to supervisor, while the mediation model considers trust in supervisor as a mediating variable between interactional justice and loyalty to supervisor. Additionally, the two models suggest that loyalty to supervisor affects the in-role job performance and organizational citizenship behaviour of workers. The results showed that the mediation model was better supported than the direct effect model. It has been found that trust in supervisor mediates the relationships between interactional justice and loyalty to supervisor. In addition, loyalty to supervisor has significant effects on both employees' performance and organizational citizenship behaviour. Practically, the findings of the present study provide considerable implications for managing Chinese workers in joint ventures.

Managerial ratings of in-role behaviors, organizational citizenship behaviors, and overall performance: testing different models of their relationship

Recent writings by Borman and Motowidlo [Borman WC, Motowidlo SJ. Expanding the criterion domain to include elements of contextual performance. In: Schmitt N, Borman WC, editors. Personnel Seclection in Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993. pp. 71–98], Organ [Organ DW, Organizational citizenship behavior: it's construct clean-up time. Hum Perform 1997; 10: 85–97], and others have sought to clarify or reposition organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) as an element of a broadened definition of employee performance. We utilized confirmatory factor analysis to test several of the assumptions behind this new direction for OCB research. First, in support of prior research, we found that in-role behaviors (IRBs) and two dimensions of OCB (altruism and conscientiousness) were empirically distinct. Next, we found that overall performance ratings were predicted by ratings given concerning IRB and altruism, though not by ratings of the OCB dimension of conscientiousness. Third, a second-order factor analysis that specified four first-order factors loading on one general factor of performance was found to be consistent with the data. This is presented as support for including OCB dimensions within current definitions of employee performance. Finally, to address possible halo in the data, a second causal model was evaluated, where overall performance was viewed as causally prior to the other three measures. Implications are discussed.

Justice, citizenship, and role definition effects.

A limitation of the organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) literature is that theory and empirical evidence suggest that some employees define OCBs as part of their job. A theoretical framework that addresses this problem is tested in this article. The framework focuses on 2 effects: a role enlargement effect (i.e., employees with more favorable attitudes define OCB as inrole behavior, which, in turn, results in greater citizenship) and a role discretion effect (i.e., the relationship between employees' attitudes and their citizenship will be stronger among employees who define OCB as extrarole behavior). In tests of this framework with 2 independent samples of supervisor-subordinate dyads, role definitions were found to moderate several relationships between procedural justice and OCB, providing support for the role discretion effect. Implications for OCB theory and research are discussed.

Internal Politics in Public Administration Systems

Politics is one of the most common yet least studied phenomena in organizations. This study examines employees' perceptions of organizational politics in the public sector and suggests that it mediates the relationship between job congruence (e.g., person-organization fit and level of met-expectations) and employee performance (e.g., organizational citizenship behavior [OCB] and in-role performance). A survey was conducted among 303 individuals in public personnel from two local municipalities in the north of Israel (first survey). Supervisors completed an assessment of employees' OCB and in-role performance six months later (second survey). Path analysis using LISREL VIII was implemented to evaluate two alternative models, direct and indirect. Findings of the study show that the indirect model fits the data better than the direct model, and therefore supports a mediating effect of perceptions of organizational politics scale (POPS) on the relationship between job congruence and employee performance. Structural coefficients among the research variables promote the theory on the affect of job congruence and POPS on OCB and in-role behavior. The findings contribute both to the understanding of antecedents of POPS as well as to the exploration of some of its consequences. The paper concludes with several implications and suggestions for further inquiry into politics in public administration systems.

Organizational Citizenship and Mood: An Experimental Test of Perceived Job Breadth1

This study examined the impact of induced mood and fairness on the categorization of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs). Positive mood and perceptions of fair job conditions were predicted to lead to broader categorization of job tasks. Mood, procedural, and distributive justice were manipulated. Participants in a positive mood were more likely than were participants in a negative mood to label extra‐role job tasks as in‐role. This supports the notion that employees in a positive mood may inadvertently engage in OCBs because such behaviors are perceived to be part of the job. No differences in categorization were found between positive and neutral mood conditions, indicating that participants in the negative condition were more narrow in categorization breadth than were those in the positive condition in distinguishing in‐role behaviors from extra‐role behaviors.

Charismatic leadership viewed from above: the impact of proactive personality

We tested hypotheses regarding the relationship between proactive personality and perceptions of charismatic leadership. A sample of 156 managers completed measures of proactive personality along with measures of the five-factor model of personality and other individual differences. The managers' immediate supervisors rated their charismatic leadership and in-role behavior. Results suggest that self-reported proactive personality is positively associated with supervisors' independent ratings of charismatic leadership. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that proactive personality accounts for variance in a manager's charismatic leadership above and beyond that accounted for by an array of control variables (the Big Five personality factors, in-role behavior, and social desirability). Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Leader-Member Exchange Quality and Effectiveness Ratings

Survey data were collected from 127 subordinate-supervisor dyads employed in diverse organizational settings. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that subordinate-supervisor conscientiousness similarity predicted subordinate in-role behavior. Also, subordinate in-role behavior closely approached significance as a predictor of higher quality leader-member exchanges (LMX), whereas LMX was correlated with subordinate organizational citizenship behavior and supervisor effectiveness. As a function of conscientiousness similarity, the observed relationships are explained in terns of improved subordinate-supervisor compatibility and reciprocity. Examples are provided.

Social exchange in organizations: Perceived organizational support, leader–member exchange, and employee reciprocity.

Social exchange (P. Blau, 1964) and the norm of reciprocity (A. W. Gouldner, 1960) have been used to explain the relationship of perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange with employee attitudes and behavior. Recent empirical research suggests that individuals engage in different reciprocation efforts depending on the exchange partner (e.g., B. L. McNeely & B. M. Meglino, 1994). The purpose of the present study was to further investigate these relationships by examining the relative contribution of indicators of employee-organization exchange and subordinate-supervisor exchange. Structural equation modeling was used to compare nested models. Results indicate that perceived organizational support is associated with organizational commitment, whereas leader-member exchange is associated with citizenship and in-role behavior.

Prosocial organizational behaviors: The roles of workplace justice, achievement striving, and pay satisfaction

In this research, the roles of workplace justice, achievement striving behavior and pay satisfaction were used to predict prosocial behaviors. A total of 354 individuals from a consumer products company provided data for this research. Results suggest that achievement striving accounted for unique variance in in-role behavior. Perceived fairness in skill-based pay's certification process showed positive associations with extra-role and in-role behaviors. In support of previous research, pay satisfaction also provided unique contribution to both extra-role and in-role behaviors.

Career plateauing: reactions and moderators among managerial and professional employees

Questionnaire data obtained from managerial and professional employees in Singapore (N = 141) were used to examine reactions to and moderators of career plateauing. Zero-order correlation coefficients revealed that the perceptual measure of career plateauing was more significantly negatively related to the work attitudes and behaviours than was job tenure. Moderated regression analyses results also revealed that, in general, the perceptual measure of career plateau explained more of the variance in the work attitudes and behaviours than did job tenure. Further, the moderated regression analyses revealed that of the three moderators (job tenure, supervisor support and job characteristics) and the six work attitudes and behaviours examined, supervisor support and job challenge significantly positively moderated only the effects of career plateauing on in-role behaviours. Limitations of the study, directions for future research and implications of the findings are discussed.

Dimensions that make a difference: Examining the impact of in-role and extrarole behaviors on supervisory ratings.

Dimensions that make a difference: Examining the impact of in-role and extrarole behaviors on supervisory ratings.

Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment as Predictors of Organizational Citizenship and In-Role Behaviors

Previous organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) research (a) has not demonstrated that extra-role behaviors can be distinguished empirically from in-role activities, and (b) has not examined the relative contributions of components ofjob satisfaction a nd organizational commitment to the performance of OCBs. Factor analysis of survey data from 127 employees' supervisors supported the distinction between in-role behaviors and two forms of OCBs. Hierarchical regression analysis found two job cognitions variables (intrinsic and extrinsic) to be differentially related to the two types OCBs, but affective variables and organizational commitment were not significant predictors. The link between the present findings and previous research is discussed, as are directions forfuture research.

The perception of sex-inconsistent behavior

Sex-role perceptions were approached from an out-of-role attributional framework, with the predictions that out-of-role behavior would be rated more extreme than in-role behavior on sex-role stereotype scales and that out-of-role behavior would be seen as more internally determined. One hundred and twenty male and female college students heard one of four tapes in which the two stimulus persons (SPs), male and female, behaved in sex-role consistent or inconsistent behavior using the dimension of dominance-submission (DM-DF, SM-SF, DM-SF, DF-SM). The DF, compared to the DM, was attributed more masculinity and less femininity. The DF's behavior, compared to the DM, was seen as originating more from internal than situational causes.