Organizational citizenship behavior

What counts as citizenship

The idea was popularized by Dennis Organ and colleagues in the 1980s. They argued that organizations rely on a steady supply of small, discretionary contributions that nobody could fully specify in a contract. Later writers noted that the line between required and voluntary work is blurry, because many employees and managers regard helping as part of the job.

• Helping coworkers with problems or workload
• Conscientious attendance and use of time
• Speaking up constructively and taking part in the life of the organization
• Tolerating minor inconveniences without complaint

What predicts it

Reviews consistently link citizenship to job satisfaction, perceived fairness, commitment, and supportive leadership. Personality matters too, with conscientiousness and agreeableness showing modest associations. Most of this evidence is correlational and often relies on a single source of ratings, so the direction of influence is difficult to establish.

Limits and contested points

Citizenship is not always a free benefit. Some employees help in order to look good, a motive described as impression management, and others feel pressured into extra work. Researchers have also studied citizenship fatigue and the strain of carrying an unequal load, and women may be asked to do more of this unrewarded work. The link between tendencies to help and organizational performance is positive in many studies, but causal evidence remains thinner than the size of the literature suggests.