Citizenship Under Pressure: What's a "Good Soldier" To Do?

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-1-2010

Department

Management and International Business

Abstract

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) are typically defined as discretionary behaviors that contribute to the effective functioning of organizations. Prior research has generally focused on instances in which employees willingly engage in such behaviors; however, because OCBs are often informally encouraged and rewarded, workers may experience pressure to be "good soldiers" within their organizations. Using a sample of 245 employees, our findings indicate that citizenship pressure is related to increased levels of OCB, particularly among unmarried and less conscientious employees. However, there appear to be negative consequences associated with citizenship pressure, even when controlling for OCB and other job demands, such as role overload and hours worked. In particular, citizenship pressure is associated with work-family conflict, work-leisure conflict, job stress, and intentions to quit. Implications of this study and some directions for future research are also discussed. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Publication Title

Journal of Organizational Behavior

Volume

31

Issue

6

First Page

835

Last Page

855

Link to Full Text

Find in your library

Share

COinS