OCB as a handicap: an evolutionary psychological perspective

Abstract

SummaryIn this article, we seek to contribute to research on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) by adopting a psychological evolutionary perspective that offers a novel way of interpreting such behaviors. Specifically, drawing on the handicap principle in evolutionary biology, we propose that by demonstrating the ability to bear the burden associated with costly OCBs, organizational members can credibly signal their otherwise unobservable capabilities to others. We develop a model that explores antecedents and outcomes of engaging in costly OCBs and offer avenues for future research within this framework.

Do Employees Know How Their Supervisors View Them? A Study Examining Metaperceptions of Job Performance

“…Research on impression management consistently demonstrates that employees have strong motives to create desired impressions in others (Finkelstein, 2006;Yun, Takeuchi, & Liu, 2007), especially in regard to their job-related performance (Deutsch Salamon & Deutsch, 2006). The success of these attempts relies on skillful monitoring and accurate perception of others' views about one's self (Bolino, Kacmar, Turnley, & Gilstrap, 2008).…”

Evolutionary Psychology in the Business Sciences

“…Next, I provide a list of biologically and/or evolutionary-informed works spanning the gamut of business disciplines beginning with those disciplines most closely aligned to my research interests: consumer behavior/marketing (Colarelli and Dettman 2003;Saad 2006bSaad , 2010bSaad , 2011bSaad and Gill 2000); advertising (Ambler and Hollier 2004;Cary 2000;Griskevicius et al 2009;Saad 2004); political marketing (Saad 2003); product evolution (Massey 1999); relationship marketing (Eyuboglu and Buja 2007;Palmer 2000); decision making/ rationality (Chen et al 2006;Gigerenzer 2000;Haselton et al 2009;Kenrick et al 2009;McDermott et al 2008;Waksberg et al 2009); intertemporal choice (Daly and Wilson 2005; Van den Bergh et al 2008;Wang and Dvorak 2010;Wilson and Daly 2004); economics (Ben-Ner and Putterman 2000;Burd 2010;Cordes 2006;Dopfer 2005;Gandolfi et al 2000;Hagen and Hammerstein 2006;Henrich et al 2004;Hodgson and Knudsen 2010;Koppl 2005;Saad and Gill 2001); executive decision making (Nicholson 2000); family business ; human resource management (Colarelli 2003); personnel psychology ; organizational politics (Braithwaite 2005; Vredenburgh and Shea-VanFossen 2010); workplace gossip (Kniffin and Wilson 2010); salary distribution within organizations (Kniffin 2009); facial features and career success (Mueller and Mazur 1996;Rule andAmbady 2008, 2009); organizational citizenship behavior (Salamon and Deutsch 2006); leadership …”

A research about the relationship of psychological safety and organizational politics perception with compulsory citizenship behavior and the pressures behind compulsory citizenship behavior

“…Then, this question has risen: What kind of pressure is that? OCB is investigated from the positive side such as its positive image, its constructive implications, its contribution to individuals and organizations at multiple levels, and its general reinforcement of performance in the workplace till today but in recent years, the assumptions behind the concept are started to question and there are growing studies (Bolino, Klotz, Turnley & Harvey, 2013;Bolino, Turnley, Gilstrap & Suazo, 2010;Bolino, Turnley & Niehoff, 2004;Gadot, 2006;Salamon & Deutsch, 2006;Zhao, Peng, Han, Sheard & Hudson, 2013;Zhao, Peng & Chen, 2014) which have examined OCB from a different perspective focuses on internal or external pressures on employees for exhibiting those behaviors. Gadot (2006) has proposed that OCB can arise from other motives, some of them less voluntary or less self-initiated.…”

“…Moreover, prior work suggests that employees may engage in OCBs because they are worried about losing their job because of poor economic conditions, layoffs, or other uncertainties, and that engaging in citizenship behaviors may provide a way for workers to stand out from their peers. For instance, Salamon and Deutsch (2006) argued that employees engage in citizenship behaviors for instrumental reasons in order to demonstrate that they are exceptional employees worth retaining (Bolino et al, 2013). However, another similar concept which is called citizenship pressure also covers internal pressures besides external.…”