Organizational citizenship behavior

Abstract

The scale for measuring Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB), originally developed by Podsakoff and MacKenzie in 1989, is a robust instrument in organizational psychology designed to assess employee behaviors that are discretionary, not formally recognized by the reward system, and yet promote the effective functioning of the organization. This scale utilizes a multi-dimensional framework, consisting of five core constructs: Altruism, Courtesy, Sportsmanship, Conscientiousness, and Civic Virtue. The instrument relies on managers to rate their employees’ specific behaviors using a seven-point format.

Keywords

Organizational Citizenship Behavior, OCB, Altruism, Courtesy, Sportsmanship, Conscientiousness, Civic Virtue, Organizational Behavior, Job Performance, Manager Rating, Extra-role behavior.

Authors

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

Purpose

The primary purpose of this scale is to systematically quantify the extent to which employees engage in Organizational Citizenship Behavior. OCB refers to those beneficial actions that go above and beyond the required duties of the job description. By measuring these discretionary behaviors, researchers and practitioners can better understand factors contributing to organizational effectiveness, team cohesion, and overall workplace climate.

The scale is structured to facilitate managerial assessment, providing a practical tool for supervisors to evaluate the specific extra-role contributions of their subordinates across several distinct domains of organizational citizenship.

Construct

The scale measures the overarching construct of Organizational Citizenship Behavior, conceptualized here as a five-factor model derived from the work of Podsakoff and MacKenzie (1989). Each dimension captures a distinct facet of citizenship:

• Altruism: Focuses on helpful behaviors directed toward specific individuals within the organization, such as assisting colleagues with heavy workloads or orienting new staff.
• Courtesy: Measures proactive behaviors aimed at preventing interpersonal problems, including consulting others before making decisions that might affect them.
• Sportsmanship: Reflects an employee’s willingness to tolerate minor inconveniences and frustrations inherent in the workplace without complaining or adopting a negative attitude.
• Conscientiousness: Assesses behaviors that exceed minimum role requirements related to job performance, such as being highly punctual and adhering strictly to company rules, even when unsupervised.
• Civic Virtue: Captures responsible participation in the organizational life of the company, including staying informed about developments and attending non-required functions that benefit the organization’s image.

Validity

The structural validity of the OCB scale has been strongly supported by empirical research. Studies conducted by the scale developers and their colleagues, including Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman, and Fetter (1990), confirmed the hypothesized five-dimension model. This finding is critical as it validates the theoretical distinction among the five types of citizenship behaviors, ensuring that the scale is measuring five separate, yet related, components of the OCB construct.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the scale dimensions demonstrates high reliability, making the instrument suitable for academic measurement. Reports on the psychometric properties, such as those detailed in Moorman (1991), consistently showed that the reliability coefficients (typically Cronbach’s Alpha) were above the standard threshold of 0.70 for every single dimension. This indicates that the items within each subscale are highly correlated and reliably measure the intended underlying construct.

Factor Analysis

The factor analysis results, as reported in the validation literature (Podsakoff et al., 1990; Moorman, 1991), provided clear support for a five-dimension model of citizenship behavior. This analysis confirmed that the scale items clustered distinctly into five factors: Altruism, Courtesy, Sportsmanship, Conscientiousness, and Civic Virtue. The consistent support for this structure across multiple studies reinforces the measure’s factorial validity and its appropriateness for distinguishing between different types of Organizational Citizenship Behavior.

Instrument

Test Type: Other-report measure (Managerial Rating Scale)

Format: Seven-point Likert-type scale, where managers indicate their agreement with descriptive statements about the employee’s behavior.

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: Employees/Workers in organizational settings

Age Group: Adult (Working population)

Population Details: The scale is administered to managers who rate the citizenship behaviors of the employees working under them.

Test Methodology: Raters (managers) evaluate employees on a set of items describing specific behaviors corresponding to the five dimensions of OCB.

Keywords

Organizational behavior, Extra-role performance, Employee assessment, Podsakoff, Managerial rating, Organizational effectiveness, Conscientiousness, Organizational Justice.

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 foundational scale was developed in 1989. Key validation studies establishing its psychometric properties were published in 1990 and 1991. The use of this scale is widespread in academic research. While specific fee structures are not provided in the source text, researchers typically cite the original Podsakoff and MacKenzie (1989/1990) work when utilizing the measure.

Reference’s

• Podsakoff, P. M., & MacKenzie, S. B. (1989). A scale to measure organizational citizenship behavior. Unpublished manuscript.
• 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.
• Moorman, R. H. (1991). Relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behaviors: Do fairness perceptions influence employee citizenship? Journal of Applied Psychology, 76(6), 845-855.
• Niehoff, B. P., & Moorman, R. H. (1993). Justice as a mediator of the relationship between methods of monitoring and organizational citizenship behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 36(3), 527-556.

Items of the Organizational citizenship behavior.

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Altruism

1. Helps others who have heavy work loads.
2. Helps others who have been absent.
3. Willingly gives of his/her time to help others who have work related problems.
4. Helps orient new people even though it is not required.

Courtesy

5. Consults with me or other individuals who might be affected by his/her
6. actions or decisions.
7. Does not abuse the rights of others.
8. Takes steps to prevent problems with other workers.
9. Informs me before taking any important actions.

Sportsmanship

10. Consumes a lot of time complaining about trivial matters. (R)
11. Tends to make “mountains out of molehills” (makes problems bigger than they are). (R)
12. Constantly talks about wanting to quit his/her job. (R)
13. Always focuses on what’s wrong with his/her situation, rather than the positive side of it. (R)

Conscientiousness

14. Is always punctual.
15. Never takes long lunches or breaks.
16. Does not take extra breaks.
17. Obeys company rules, regulations and procedures even when no one is watching.

Civic virtue

18. Keeps abreast of changes in the organization.
19. Attends functions that are not required, but that help the company image.
20. Attends and participates in meetings regarding the organization.
21. “Keeps up” with developments in the company.