OCBs: Why do People Really do Them?

by Dr Deirdre O’Donovan, Lecturer in HRM and MA HRM Course Coordinator, Cork Institute of Technology.

As discussed in earlier posts, Organizational Citizenship Behaviours (OCBs) are supposed to be voluntary behaviours, which people undertake of their own free will. In Post 6, OCBs: The Dark Side, however, it was highlighted that some individuals may undertake OCBs due to negative pressure exerted by superiors or peers. This post, drawing on recent research from this writer (O’Donovan, 2015), also deals with why individuals in reality may undertake OCBs, but focusses on more positive, or perhaps less inherently negative, reasons.

Employees, particularly in healthcare, public service and customer facing roles, may be inclined to engage in OCBs related to customer care and satisfaction. Essentially, employees in such roles may be more inclined to go the extra mile for customers. The implication of this is significant, as it suggests that some employees, for example, nurses, may be inclined, therefore perhaps easily encouraged, or ‘positively manipulated’, to engage in OCBs regardless of the presence or absence of other antecedents or factors, should they believe doing so will benefit clients. There is, however, an ethical conundrum associated with this, as the manipulation of behaviour to capitalise on this finding is perhaps ethically questionable, as it essentially requires manipulation of good will. Manipulation of good will is arguably tantamount to exploitation of good nature.

Some individuals are likely to engage in OCBs when they recognise that doing so is beneficial for their colleagues. There is a distinction between undertaking OCBs because it is realised that doing so makes life easier for colleagues, and doing so because of force from colleagues. The former reflects goodwill and choice, whereas the latter reflects coercion. This also indicates that organisations operating with a team-oriented culture can encourage OCBs by generally recognising behaviours that are beneficial to colleagues, thereby reinforcing them.

Similarly to engaging in behaviour that benefits colleagues, some employees may engage in OCBs that benefit the entire team or department. The development of such OCBs is arguably easier facilitated in a team-oriented organisation. Furthermore, again in a similar vein, some individuals may undertake OCBs as doing so is reflective of the culture of the organization or department, or simply what has always been done. This suggestion reinforces the importance of organizational culture, and so managers and organizations are advised to develop an OCB oriented culture to ingrain the undertaking of OCBs into the fabric of the organization. This OCB oriented culture should be reinforced by symbolising the importance of OCBs via acknowledgement of their occurrence, as previously suggested in Post 7.

In the study mentioned in the opening paragraph of this post, almost half of the respondents indicated that they engage in OCBs for personal, individual reasons. This indicates that some individuals may be predisposed to undertaking OCBs, perhaps as a result of antecedents such as personality or loyalty. The personality trait of conscientiousness, for example, may be a predictor for more impersonal forms of OCB, specifically, those behaviours that are not directed towards particular individuals, rather, constitute constructive forms of supporting the larger context of organised efforts. If some individuals are predisposed to OCBs, instances of supra-role behaviour should be reinforced in some manner both to encourage those individuals to continue with such behaviours and to indicate to others that OCBs are valued, thereby encouraging them to follow suit.

Still other employees may engage in supra-role behaviour as a result of a belief that if they do not engage in particular activities, no one else will do so. This again, as per Post 6, suggests a semi-forced element in such OCBs, as rather than undertaking OCBs as a matter of goodwill, employees may do so out of frustration or a lack of faith in others to engage in tasks. Such activities may include relatively innocuous tasks, such as removing an overflowing bin from an office, throwing out used disposable crockery, or ensuring to turn off lights when leaving the building.

While there are a plethora of other reasons stemming from individuality, finally, for this post, some employees may engage in OCBs for reasons of Social Exchange. Essentially, employees who have benefitted from OCBs undertaken by others may seek to reciprocate those who benefit them, and so engage in a return of OCBs; A mutual “scratching of backs”, as it were.

Regardless of the reason for their undertaking, OCBs ultimately, as discussed in this and previous posts, carry the potential of benefitting customers, peers, teams, departments, and the organisation as a whole.

About the author

Dr Deirdre O’Donovan is currently a lecturer in Human Resource Management in Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland, and the course coordinator for the MA in HRM. Previous research focussed on National Culture and Performance Management, while her current research interests are primarily rooted in Industrial/Organisational Psychology, Inclusion and HRM.
LinkedIn: Deirdre-O-Donovan-phd
Email: [email protected]