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ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR: ITS DEFINITIONS AND

DIMENSIONS

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 GE-International Journal of Management Research
Vol. 5, Issue 5, May 2017 Impact Factor- 5.779
ISSN(O): 2321-1709, ISSN(P): 2394-4226
© Associated Asia Research Foundation (AARF)
Website: www.aarf.asiaEmail : [email protected] , [email protected]

ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR: ITS DEFINITIONS

AND DIMENSIONS
1Dr.
T. Thiruvenkadam, 2Mr. I. Yabesh Abraham Durairaj
1
Associate Professor, SSN School of Management, Chennai.
2
Research Scholar / Assistant Professor, Department of Management Studies,
Panimalar Engineering College, Chennai.

ABSTRACT
Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) is a term that encompasses anything positive
and constructive that employees do, of their own choice, which supports co-workers and
benefits the company. Typically, employees who frequently engage in OCB may not always
be the top performers, but they are the ones who are known to ‘go the extra mile’ or ‘go
above and beyond’ the minimum efforts required to do a merely satisfactory job. Theory and
research on OCB has presumed OCB as set of desirable behaviors that contributes to the
organizational effectiveness. So far OCB has been indicated as one of the precursors of
organizational performance. However, the precursors of OCB are not thoroughly
investigated. This study explores various existing definitions of OCB and then examines the
dimensions of OCB.

Key words: Organizational citizenship behavior, Helping behavior, Sportsmanship,

Organizational loyalty, Organizational compliance, and Individual initiative

What is OCB?
Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) has undergone subtle definitional revisions since
the term was coined in the late 1980s, but the construct remains the same at its core. OCB
refers to anything that employees choose to do, spontaneously and of their own accord, which
often lies outside of their specified contractual obligations. In other words, it is discretionary.
OCB may not always be directly and formally recognized or rewarded by the company,
through salary increments or promotions for example, though of course OCB may be reflected
in favorable supervisor and co-worker ratings, or better performance appraisals. In this way it

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can facilitate future reward gain indirectly. Finally, and critically, OCB must ‘promote the
effective functioning of the organization’ (Organ, 1988, p. 4).
Currently, OCB is conceptualized as synonymous with the concept of contextual
performance, defined as ‘performance that supports the social and psychological environment
in which task performance takes place’ (Organ, 1997, p. 95). While this reflects the flexible
nature of workers’ roles in the modern workplace, and acknowledges the fact that employees
do get recognized and rewarded for engaging in OCB (Van Scotter, Motowidlo & Cross,
2000; Werner, 1994), the colloquial understanding of OCB as going ‘the extra mile’ or
‘above and beyond’ to help others at work is an idea that many are familiar with, and these
ideas continue to be a popular way of conceptualizing OCB. Typical examples of OCB
include offering to help a newcomer become familiar with his/her role and the office, a
colleague who may be struggling with deadlines, or volunteering to change shifts.
Importantly, OCB also encompasses organizational-related acts such as working overtime
without (expectation of) remuneration, or volunteering to organize office-wide functions.

Definitions of OCB
The willingness of participants to exert effortbeyond the formal obligations dictated by
theirpositions has long been recognized as an essentialcomponent of effective
organizationalperformance. For example, more than a halfcentury ago, Barnard (1938) stated
that thewillingness of individuals to contribute cooperativeefforts to the organization was
indispensable toeffective attainment of organizational goals.
Barnard elaborated that efforts must be exerted notonly to perform the functions that
contribute to thegoals of the organization but also to maintain theorganization itself.
Individuals differ in theirwillingness to contribute to the “cooperativesystem”, and these
individual differences in behaviorcannot be explained by individual differences inability.
Maintaining the organization could beinterpreted to up-lift the organization by
exercisingdiscretionary ownership. Regarding the cooperativesystem, Katz and Kahn’s
(1966)extended thisargument further. In any organization, theyclaimed, the system would
break down were it notfor the “countless acts of cooperation” exhibited bythe employees.
They further noted that theincentives that motivate such spontaneous,informal contributions
are different from those thatmotivate task proficiency. These insights promptedmuch of the
subsequent research in the area.
According to Organ (1988) in OCB anindividual’s behavior is discretionary. Thisbehavior is
not directly or explicitly recognized bythe formal reward system and it in the aggregatethat

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promotes the effective functioning of theorganization. Katz's (1964) paid heed to thenotion of
employees’ extra-role behaviors. Katznoted that employees willingly contribute extraefforts
for the attainment of the organizational outcomes. Organ relied on both the notions ofBarnard
(1938) and Katz (1964) to develophis OCB construct.
Despite the proliferation of research in this area,debate continues over the precise definition
oroperationalization of OCB. This is partly becausemost of the OCB research has focused
onunderstanding the relationships between OCB andother constructs, rather than carefully
defining thenature of the construct itself. Notwithstanding, adistinguishing feature is that
supervisors cannotdemand or force their subordinates to performOCB. Similarly, the
employees do not or cannotexpect any kind of formal rewards for thesediscretionary
behaviors. However, as Organ(1997) has noted, the supervisors do regularlytake into account
and reward OCB exhibited by thesubordinates both directly and indirectly (e.g.preferential
treatment, performance ratings,promotions, etc.). Another important assertion,especially in
Organ's (1988) founding work onOCB, is that these behaviors are often internallymotivated,
arising from within and sustained by anindividual's intrinsic need for a sense ofachievement,
competence, belonging or affiliation.
Organ (1988) argued that OCB is distinct fromrelated constructs (such as
``organizationalcommitment’’) developed by organizationalresearchers. While OCB may be
empirically relatedto organizational commitment (Cohen & Vigoda,2000), it is important to
emphasize that OCBrefers to a particular class of employee behaviors,while constructs such
as organizationalcommitment is essentially attitude-based (asoriginally operationalized in the
organizationalcommitment questionnaire of Mowday et al.,1979), which is typically
measured by seekingemployees’ responses to such scale item statementsas ``I find that my
values and the organizations arevery similar’’. The unique contribution of Organwas to
identify a class of employee work behaviors(Organizational Citizenship Behaviors)
whoserelationship with job satisfaction, among othervariables, might be meaningfully
examined in thesearch for a practically significant workplacebehaviors related to employee
job attitudes.
A second definition of OCB comes from Van Dyneet al. (1995), who proposed the broader
constructof "extra-role behavior" (ERB), defined as"behavior which benefits the organization
and/or is intended to benefit the organization, which isdiscretionary and which goes beyond
existing roleexpectations" (p. 218). Organ (1997) suggestedthat this definition did not provide
much clarity,noting that one's "job role" is dependent on theexpectations of and
communication from the rolesender. The "sent role" could thus be less than orgreater than the

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actual job requirements. This roletheory definition thus places OCB or ERB in therealm of
phenomenology, unobservable andcompletely subjective in nature. Distinctionsbetween
antecedents and behaviors becomeblurred, completely dependent on the "eyes of
thebeholder."
This definition also presumes that the actor'sintentions are "to benefit the organization."
Onceagain, the behavior should be defined independentof its presumed antecedents.Borman
and Motowidlo (1993, 1997)proposed another construct called ‘contextualperformance’
related to OCB that contribute to theeffectiveness of the organization by shaping
theorganizational, social, and psychological contextthat serves as the catalyst for task
activities andprocesses. As opposed to “task performance” (i.e.the effectiveness with which
job incumbentsperform activities that contribute to theorganization’s technical core) by
“contextualperformance” these authors referred to thosebehaviors that employees engage in
many workbehaviors that fall outside the rubric of taskperformance. Their taxonomy of
contextualperformance includes persisting with enthusiasmand extra effort as necessary to
complete own taskactivities successfully, volunteering to carry outtask activities that are not
formally part of own job,helping and cooperating with others, followingorganizational rules
and procedures, and endorsing,supporting, and defending organizationalobjectives. Van-
Scotter and Motowidlo (1996)suggested that contextual performance should beseparated into
the two narrower constructs of“interpersonal facilitation” and “job dedication,”which are
similar to Organ’s interpersonallydirectedand organizationally-directed factorsrespectively
(which will discussed under thesection of Dimensions of OCB).
However, Organ (1997) suggested that Bormanand Motowidlo (1993) construct of
"contextualbehaviors" has provided a more tenable definitionof OCB. Contextual behaviors
do not support thetechnical core itself so much as they support thebroader organizational,
social, and psychologicalenvironment in which the technical core mustfunction (Borman &
Motowidlo, 1993). Thisdefinition is not clouded by any notions ofdiscretion, rewards, or
intent of the actor. Thisdefinition only assumes that the behaviors shouldsupport “the
organizational, social, andpsychological environment” rather than the“technical core.” There
is no specific motivepresumed of the actor, nor are there any otherantecedents inferred. A
certain degree ofsubjectivity will remain surrounding the fuzzy linebetween what is and is not
included in the technicalcore. This ambiguity is likely to persist.
As an endnote on the various definitions of OCBthe distinction between the in-role/extra-
roleordesired discretionary work behaviors isproblematic. Therefore, the solution is to
defineOCB along the lines of contextual performance.

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This accomplished, the two constructs becomevirtually identical. Organ (1997) also
hassuggested similar view regarding the use of OCBfor the future researchers.
A recent review of the literature by Podsakoff,Mackenzie, Paine, and Bachrach (2000)
identified a major weakness of this stream ofresearch on OCB. The authors argued that
theliterature has focused more on understanding therelationship between OCB and other
constructs,rather than carefully defining the nature(dimensions) of citizenship behavior itself.
Podsakoff et al. (2000)warned that unless moreattention is paid to the conceptualization of
OCBand its measures, we are in danger of developing astream of literature that may prove of
little worth tothe field in the long run. Thus, theconceptualization of OCB could be
manifested in abetter way by discussing the dimensions of OCB inthe following section.

Dimensions of OCB
Different scholars have different views about OCB dimensions. Scholars have developed a
variety of taxonomies to classify these citizenship behaviors (Bateman & Organ, 1983;
Smith, Organ, & Near, 1983; Van Dyne, Graham, & Dienesch, 1994; Williams & Anderson,
1991).After Bateman and Organ introduced the term “Organizational Citizenship Behavior”
in 1983 researchers has identified thirty different forms of OCB (Podasakoff, MacKenzie,
Pain & Bachrach, 2000).
1. In 1983, Smith, Organ and Near (1983), conducted factor analysis taking 16-item
measure of OCB which resulted in two factors,
a. Altruism and
b. Generalized compliance (also called conscientiousness).

2. Later on Organ developed a five factor model by deconstruction which was composed
of five dimensions:
a. Altruism refers to voluntarily helping others with a specific work related task,
such as assisting a co-worker with heavy work load.
b. Courtesy involves discretionary behaviors that aim at preventing work related
problems, for example-providing advance notice to colleagues when
something is changed by you which may affect them.
c. Conscientiousness refers to exceeding the minimum role requirements of the
organization (Law, Wong, & Chen, 2005). It involves punctuality, adherence
to company rules, regulations and procedures when no one is watching.

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 d. Sportsmanship means willingness of employees to tolerate less-than–ideal
organizational situations without complaining and sacrificing one’s own
personal interest.
e. Civic virtue refers to employees deep concerns and active attention in the
existence of the organization (Organ, Podsakoff, & MacKenzie, 2005), such as
giving one’s own suggestions for development in a meeting.
Most of the conceptualizations of OCB focus on some variations among these five
dimensions as suggested by Organ (1988).

3. In 1991, Lin developed a six dimension scale which includes;

a. Identification with the organization,
b. Assistance to colleagues,
c. Harmony,
d. Righteous,
e. Discipline, and
f. Self –improvement.

4. Later on Williams and Anderson (1991) categorized OCB in terms of target of the
behavior. They organized OCB construct by dividing into two dimensions of OCB
consisting of OCB-individuals (OCBI) and OCB-organization (OCBO).
a. OCBI contributes to the organization indirectly by benefiting peers and co-
workers. It is directed towards other individuals in the organization like
altruism and courtesy, for example-making additional copies of the meeting
agenda for the co-workers, helping a new employee in performing his tasks
etc.
b. OCBO includes behaviors intended for the organization as a whole, like
punctuality, making suggestions for organization advancement and obeying
rules.

5. Van Dyne, Graham, and Dienesch (1994) introduced three dimensions for OCB.
Those are obedience, loyalty and participation.
a. Obedience refers to respect for orderly structures and processes.
b. Loyalty involves promoting and protecting community and contributing
additional effort for the common good.

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 c. Participation involves contributing to the process of community self-
governance.
Table No.: 1 – Dimensions of OCB

Altruism
1. Smith, Organ & Near (1983)
General Compliance
Altruism
Conscientiousness
2. Organ (1988) Sportsmanship
Courtesy
Civic Virtue
Identification with the organization
Assistance to colleagues
Harmony
3. Lin (1991)
Righteous
Discipline
Self -improvement
Individual –directed OCB (OCBI)
4. Williams & Anderson (1991)
Organization –directed OCB (OCBO)
Obedience
5. Van Dyne, Graham & Dienesh (1994) Loyalty
Participation
Helping behavior
Sportsmanship
Organizational loyalty
6. Podsakoff et al. (2000) Organizational compliance
Individual initiative
Civic virtue
Self-development

6. After reviewing the existing literature regarding OCB and other related constructs
Podsakoff et al. (2000) found seven common dimensions of citizenship behaviors.
These were as follows:
a. First, helping behavior refers to voluntarily helping behaviors toward others.
b. Second, sportsmanship refers to individuals who do not complain when they
are inconvenienced by others and who can maintain their positive attitudes
even in the challenging situations.
c. Third, organizational loyalty refers to employees promoting organizations to
outsiders and committing to organizations even under adverse conditions.

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 d. Fourth, organizational compliance refers to obedience toward the
organization’s policies and procedures (Van Dyne et al., 1994).
e. Fifth, individual initiative refers to employee’s performance of duties beyond
the expected levels what is required to solve a problem (Organ et al., 2006).
f. Sixth, civic virtue involves responsible and constructive participation (Organ,
1990).
g. Finally, self-development refers to employee’s voluntary behavior to improve
his knowledge, skills, and abilities for better performance in job (George &
Brief, 1992).
But as mentioned by Podsakoff et al.(2000), the last dimension, self-development, has
not received any empirical confirmation.

However, the dimensions developed by Organ are widely accepted. The literature reviewed
describe unanimous acceptance of these five dimensions. The dimensions developed by other
scholars are overlapping in nature and in some other cases the dimensions are inadequate to
describe the entire framework of OCB.

Conclusion
Managers should give adequate importance to OCB because it is accepted as an indispensible
condition for increased organizational performance and effectiveness (Barnard, 1938; Organ,
1990). OCB has got many positive influences on the organization like increasing satisfaction
of employees, increasing retention etc. But simultaneously the darker side of this construct
should not be forgotten which may lead to decreased organizational performance and
effectiveness. The review of the recent literature on OCB hasdistinguished between various
dimensions of OCBand has examined the relationships between them. Exploration on the
dimensions of OCB suggestedthat like most behaviors, OCB are also subject tomultiple
antecedents. Theoretical frameworks for all otherclasses of organizational behaviors, from
jobperformance to turnover to absenteeism, considermultiple source of causation. Therefore,
it makessense that applying the same rationale to OCB. The paper will also help researcher to
carry out empirical studies on OCB and its related outcome variables. This will further
facilitate the understanding of employees extra role behavior in organizational analysis.

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