Organizational Citizenship Behavior Measure

Abstract

The Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) measure was developed by Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman, and Fetter in 1990 to assess discretionary behaviors performed by employees that go beyond formal job requirements and benefit the organization. This instrument comprises 24 items designed to capture five distinct dimensions of OCB: altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy, and civic virtue. While the measure provides scores for these five subscales, the items can also be aggregated to form a single, comprehensive measure of organizational citizenship behavior.

Keywords

Organizational Citizenship Behavior, OCB, Altruism, Conscientiousness, Sportsmanship, Courtesy, Civic Virtue, Job Performance, Employee Behavior, Organizational Commitment

Authors

Philip M. Podsakoff, Scott B. MacKenzie, Robert H. Moorman, Richard Fetter

Purpose

The primary purpose of this scale is to systematically quantify and assess the frequency and quality of specific discretionary employee behaviors that contribute positively to the organizational and social environment, but are not explicitly rewarded or required by the formal role structure. By measuring the five key dimensions of OCB, researchers and practitioners can better understand the factors driving voluntary cooperative and helpful actions within the workplace. The scale allows for the evaluation of individual contribution beyond minimum expectations.

Construct

The measure assesses Organizational Citizenship Behavior, which is conceptualized as voluntary, pro-social behavior that enhances organizational effectiveness. The 24 items are distributed across five distinct dimensions:

• Altruism (5 items): Defined as discretionary behavior directed at helping specific individuals with organizationally relevant tasks or problems, such as assisting absent colleagues with their workload.
• Conscientiousness (5 items): Involves discretionary behavior that exceeds the minimum role requirements of the organization, exemplified by strict adherence to rules and high attendance without taking unwarranted breaks.
• Sportsmanship (5 items): Refers to the employee’s willingness to tolerate inevitable, less-than-ideal circumstances without engaging in excessive complaining or petty grievances.
• Courtesy (5 items): Behavior aimed at preventing the occurrence of work-related problems, often by being thoughtful and considerate of how one’s actions might impact other employees.
• Civic Virtue (4 items): Discretionary behavior indicating that the employee participates responsibly in, or is concerned about, the political life of the organization, such as staying informed about company developments.

Validity

The validity of the OCB measure is supported by robust correlational evidence demonstrating both convergent and divergent relationships with key organizational variables. All five dimensions (altruism, conscientiousness, courtesy, sportsmanship, and civic virtue) were found to correlate positively with one another, supporting the underlying structure of a single, broader OCB construct (Lam et al., 1999; Podsakoff et al., 1990).

In terms of criterion-related validity, the OCB dimensions showed theoretically expected relationships with various outcomes and antecedents. Specifically, OCB dimensions correlated negatively with indicators of burnout, including role ambiguity, emotional exhaustion, reduced accomplishment, and depersonalization (Klein & Verbeke, 1999). When combined into a single measure, OCB correlated positively with measures of distributive justice, procedural justice, trust, and organizational commitment (Pillai et al., 1999). Furthermore, individual dimensions showed strong predictive validity: for instance, sportsmanship and courtesy correlated negatively with turnover intentions, while conscientiousness positively correlated with managerial support, perceived organizational support, and contingent rewards (Moorman, 1993; VanYerpen et al., 1999).

Reliability

The internal consistency of the OCB measure is consistently high across various studies and samples. The reliability, measured using Coefficient alpha, demonstrated acceptable to excellent ranges for the five subscales:

• Altruism: .67 to .91
• Sportsmanship: .76 to .89
• Courtesy: .69 to .86
• Civic Virtue: .66 to .90
• Conscientiousness: .79

When all 24 items are combined to form a single, overall Organizational Citizenship Behavior scale, the internal consistency is exceptionally high, with a Coefficient alpha reported at .94 (Klein & Verbeke, 1999; Pillai et al., 1999). These high reliability statistics confirm the stability and internal consistency of the instrument.

Factor Analysis

The structural integrity of the OCB measure has been confirmed through both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) results indicated that the 24 items loaded onto the hypothesized five dimensions as intended (Moorman, 1993). This confirmed the distinctiveness of altruism, conscientiousness, sportsmanship, courtesy, and civic virtue.

Crucially, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) provided evidence for the cross-cultural invariance of the scale structure. Studies found that the five-factor structure of the OCB dimensions remained consistent across diverse international samples, including those from Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, and the United States (Lam, Hui, & Law, 1999). This suggests that the conceptualization and measurement of these specific Organizational Citizenship Behavior facets are stable across different cultural contexts.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report or Supervisor/Peer rating scale

Format: 24 items across 5 dimensions, utilizing a 7-point Likert-type scale.

Language Available: English (Original), translated versions exist in various studies (e.g., Chinese, Dutch).

Population Group: Employees in organizational settings; applicable across various industries and roles.

Age Group: Adults (Working population)

Population Details: Originally validated on samples across the United States, with subsequent validation in international samples (Hong Kong, Japan, Australia).

Test Methodology: Respondents rate the focal employee (or themselves) on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).

Keywords

Organizational Psychology, Industrial-Organizational, Job Satisfaction, Organizational Justice, Employee Trust, Work Ethic, Transformational Leadership, Organizational Behavior

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Correspondence Address: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was first published in 1990 by Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman, and Fetter in the journal Leadership Quarterly. The items were extracted from Table 5, page 121 of the original publication. Copyright is held by Elsevier Science, and permission for use or reproduction must be obtained from the publisher.

Reference’s

• Klein, H. J., & Verbeke, W. (1999). Organizational citizenship behaviors and burnout: A study in the retail industry. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(3), 420-427.
• Lam, S. K., Hui, C., & Law, K. S. (1999). Organizational citizenship behavior across cultures: A confirmatory factor analysis of the five dimensions. Academy of Management Journal, 42(6), 680-692.
• Moorman, R. H. (1993). The influence of organizational justice on an individual’s organizational citizenship behavior. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 6(1), 23-38.
• Pillai, R., Schriesheim, C. A., & Williams, M. L. (1999). Fairness perceptions and organizational commitment: A test of the mediating effects of trust. Journal of Management, 25(6), 873-890.
• Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Moorman, R. H., & Fetter, R. (1990). Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on followers’ trust in leader, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Leadership Quarterly, 1(2), 107-142.
• VanYerpen, N., Van Den Berg, P., & Willering, M. C. (1999). Organizational citizenship behavior: Construct validity and measurement issues. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29(1), 101-115.

Items of the Organizational Citizenship Behavior measure

Responses are obtained using a 7-point Likert-type scale where I= strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree. The item wording provided is for supervisor or peer description of a focal employee. The item wording can be modified for self-reporting.

Altruism items:

1. Helps others who have heavy workloads
2. Is always ready to lend a helping hand to those around him/her
3. Helps others who have been absent
4. Willingly helps others who have work-related problems
5. Helps orient new people even though it is not required

Conscientiousness items:

1. Is one of my most conscientious employees
2. Believes in giving an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay
3. Attendance at work is above the norm
4. Does not take extra breaks
5. Obeys company rules and regulations even when no one is watching

Sportsmanship items:

1. Is the classic “squeaky wheel” that always needs greasing (R)
2. Consumes a lot of time complaining about trivial matters (R)
3. Tends to make “mountains out of molehills” (R)
4. Always focuses on what’s wrong, rather than the positive side (R)
5. Always finds fault with what the organization is doing (R)

Courtesy items:

1. Tries to avoid creating problems for co-workers
2. Considers the impact of his/her actions on co-workers
3. Does not abuse the rights of others
4. Takes steps to try to prevent problems with other employees
5. Is mindful of how his/her behavior affects other people’s jobs

Civic virtue items:

1. Keeps abreast of changes in the organization
2. Attends meetings that are not mandatory, but are considered important
3. Attends functions that are not required, but help the company image
4. Reads and keeps up with organization announcements, memos, and so on

Items denoted with (R) are reverse scored.