The Influence of Gender on the Performance of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between gender and reports of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Drawing on gender role theory, I examine the effects of employee gender (male/female), gender orientation (masculine/feminine) and gender-dominated occupational choice (nurse/engineer) on OCBs. I hypothesize relationships between gender and the performance of gender-congruent OCBs, i.e., female-typed altruism and male-typed civic virtue. The results demonstrate significant differences in line with traditional gender roles. Implications are discussed.

Same Behavior, Different Consequences: Reactions to Men's and Women's Altruistic Citizenship Behavior.

“…Indeed, behaviors typically considered part of the organizational citizenship dimensions of civic virtue and individual initiative, which are agentic in character, seemed to be viewed as more optional for women than for men. This finding, which coincides with ideas presented by Kidder (2002), Kidder and McLean Parks (2001), and Ehrhart and Godfrey (2003), suggests that in some instances, men, too, may be disadvantaged by gender role prescriptions when citizenship behavior is performed or withheld. According to our reasoning, the critical issue is not the sex of the target, but rather the constraints of gender role prescriptions.…”

“…If altruism is, as we have argued, a "should" for women because of gender prescriptions to be communal, then helping behavior will be seen as a job requirement for women, albeit a tacit requirement, whereas it is regarded as discretionary for men. As suggested by Kidder and McLean Parks (2001), and again by Kidder (2002), as well as by Ehrhart and Godfrey (2003), altruistic citizenship behaviors may be considered to be more in-role than extra-role for women.…”

"All in a Day's Work": How Follower Individual Differences and Justice Perceptions Predict OCB Role Definitions and Behavior.

“…Accumulating evidence suggests that employees are more inclined to perform citizenship behavior when they view it as a role obligation, rather than as discretionary (Coyle-Shapiro & Kessler, 2002;Coyle-Shapiro, Kessler, & Purcell, 2004;Kidder, 2002;Morrison, 1994;Morrison & Phelps, 1999;Tepper & Taylor, 2003;Zellars, Tepper, & Duffy, 2002). Such results, although not surprising, suggest the importance of understanding the factors that influence employee OCB role definitions.…”

How Employees See Their Roles: The Effect of Interactional Justice and Gender

“…Gender role theory suggests that employees in an organization are embedded in culturally rooted expectations about their gender role [24,25]. Gender may affect employees' perception of what they should do in an organization.…”

“…Gender may affect employees' perception of what they should do in an organization. External social pressure favors behavior consistent with culturally prescribed gender roles [24,25]. To obtain legitimacy in an organization embedded in social pressure, employees may define their in-role behavior in line with culturally-and socially-expected gender role.…”