Using a theory-based multilevel framework, we examined the potential relationships of two organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) dimensions with individual- and group-level measures. The individual-level measures used were employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment; the group-level measure used was work group cohesiveness. The sample for the study was drawn from eight service sector organizations. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses revealed that employees in more cohesive work groups displayed greater amounts of courtesy than would have been predicted based only on their job satisfaction or organizational commitment. Further, the relationship between employee job satisfaction and the amount of courtesy displayed was stronger in the more cohesive groups. Such results were not obtained when conscientiousness was the focal OCB. Implications of our results, as well as use of HLM in multilevel investigations, are discussed.!
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allen, N. J. & Meyer, J. P. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63: 1-18.
2.
Anderson, S. E. &Williams, L. J. (1996). Interpersonal, job, and individual factors related to helping processes at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81: 282-296.
3.
Arrow, H. & McGrath, J. E. (1995). Membership dynamics in groups at work: A theoretical framework. Research in Organizational Behavior, 17: 373-411.
4.
Axelrod, R. (1984). The evolution of cooperation. New York: Basic Books.
5.
Bateman, T. S. & Organ, D. W. (1983). Job satisfaction and the good soldier: The relationship between affect and employee citizenship. Academy of Management Journal, 26: 587-595.
6.
Brief, A. P. & Motowidlo, S. J. (1986). Prosocial organizational behaviors. Academy of Management Review, 11: 710-725.
7.
Bryk, A. S. & Raudenbush, S. W. (1989). Methodology for cross-level organizational research. Research in the sociology of organizations, 7: 233-273.
8.
Bryk, A. S. & Raudenbush. S. W. (1992). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
9.
Bryk, A. S.Raudenbush, S. W. & Congdon, R. J. (1996). Hierarchical linear and nonlinear modeling with the HLM/2L and HLM/3L programs. Chicago: Scientific Software.
10.
Burstein, L. (1980). The analysis of multilevel data in educational research and evaluation. Review of Research in Education, 8: 158-233.
11.
Cappelli, P. & Sherer, P. D. (1991). The missing role of context in OB: The need for a meso-level approach. Research in organizational behavior, 13: 55-110.
12.
Carron. A.V. & Spink, K. S. (1995). The group size-cohesion relationship in minimal groups. Small Group Research, 26: 86-105.
13.
Cartwright, D. (1968). The nature of group cohesiveness (pp 91-109.) in D. Cartwright & A. Zander (Eds.), Group dynamics: Research and theory (3rd ed.) New York: Harper & Row.
14.
Cattell, R. B. (1948). Concepts and methods in the measurement of group syntality. Psychological Review, 55: 48-63.
15.
Chalykoff, J. & Kochan, T. A. (1989). Computer-aided monitoring: Its influence on employee job satisfaction and turnover. Personnel Psychology, 42: 807-834.
16.
de Leeuw, J. & Kreft, I. G. G. (1995). Questioning multilevel models. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 20: 171-189.
17.
Dobbins. G. H. & Zaccaro, S. J. (1986). The effects of group cohesion and leader behavior on subordinate satisfaction. Group & Organization Studies, 11: 203-219.
18.
Draper. D. (1995). Inference and hierarchical modeling in the social sciences. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 20: 115-147.
19.
George, J. M. & Bettenhausen, K. (1990). Understanding prosocial behavior, sales performance and turnover: A group-level analysis in a service context. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75: 698-709.
20.
Gross, E. (1954). Primary functions of the small group. American Journal of Sociolog!, 60: 24-30.
21.
Griffin. M. A. & Hofmann, D. A. Unpublished Manuscript. Hierarchical linear models in organizational research.
22.
Gully, S. M., Devine, D. J. & Whitney, D. J. (1995). A meta-analysis of cohesion and performance: Effects of level of analysis and task interdependence. Small Group Research, 26: 497-520.
23.
Hackman, J. R. (1992). Group influences on individuals in organizations (pp. 199-267). in M. D. Dunnette & L. M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (2nd ed., Vol. 3) Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
24.
Hare, A. P. (1981). Group size. American Behavioral Scientist, 24: 695-708.
25.
Hofmann, D. A.1997. An Review of the logic and rationale of HLM. Journal of Management, 23(6): 723-742.
26.
Hofmann, D. A., Jacobs R. & Baratta, J. E. (1993). Dynamic criteria and the measurement of change. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78: (194-204).
27.
House, R., Rousseau, D. M. & Thomas-Hunt, M. (1995). The meso paradigm: A framework for the integration of micro and macro organizational behavior. Research in Organizational Behavior, 17: 71-114.
28.
Isen, A. M. & Baron, R. A. (1991). Positive affect as a factor in organizational behavior. Research in Organizational Behavior, 13: 1-54.
29.
James. L. R. (1982). Aggregation bias in estimates of perceptual agreement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67: 219-229.
30.
James, L. R., Demaree, R. G. & Wolf, G. (1984). Estimating within-group interrater reliability with and without response bias. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69: 85-98.
31.
James, L. R., Demaree, R. G. & Wolf, G. (1993). rwg: An assessment of within-group interrater agreement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78: 306-309.
32.
Kerr, J. & Slocum, J. W. (1987). Managing corporate culture through reward systems. Academy of Management Executive, 1: 99-108.
33.
Klein, K. J.Dansereau, F. & Hall, R. J. (1994). Levels issues in theory development, data collection, and analysis. Academy of Management Review, 19: 195-229.
34.
Konovsky, M. A. & Pugh, S. D. (1994). Citizenship behavior and social exchange. Academy of Management Journal, 37: 656-669.
35.
Kozlowski, S. W. J. & Hattrup, K. (1992). A disagreement about within-group agreement: Disentangling issues of consistency versus consensus. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77: 161-167.
36.
Kreft, I. G. G. (1996). Are multilevel techniques necessary? An overview, including simulation studies. Manuscript in preparation.
37.
Marquis, D. G., Guetzkow. H. & Heyns, R. W. (1951). A social psychological study of the decision-making conference, (pp. 55-67) in H. Guetzkow (Ed.), Groups, leadership, and men, Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Press.
38.
Morrison, E. W. (1994). Role definitions and organizational citizenship behavior: The importance of the employee’s perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 37: 1543-1567.
39.
Mossholder, K. W. & Bedeian, A. G. (1983). Cross-level inference and organizational research: Perspectives on interpretation and application. Academy of Management Review, 8: 547-558.
40.
Mowday, R. T. & Sutton, R. I. (1993). Organizational behavior: Linking individuals and groups to organizational contexts. Annual Reviebt’ of Psychology, 44: 195-229.
41.
Mudrack, P. E. (1989). Group cohesiveness and productivity: A closer look. Human Relations, 42: 771-785.
42.
O’Reilly, C. & Chatman, J. (1986). Organizational commitment and psychological attachment: The effects of compliance, identification and internalization on prosocial behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71: 492-499.
43.
Organ, D. W. (1990). The motivational basis of organizational citizenship behavior. Research in organizational behavior, 12: 43-72.
44.
Ostroff, C. (1992). The relationship between satisfaction, attitudes and performance: An organizational level analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77: 963-974.
45.
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: 107-142.
46.
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B. & Bommer, W. H. (1996). Transformational leader behaviors and substitutes for leadership as determinants of employee satisfaction, commitment, trust, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Journal of Management, 22: 259-298.
47.
Puffer, S. M. (1987). Prosocial behavior, noncompliant behavior and work performance among commission sales-people. Journal of Applied Psychology, 72: 615-621.
48.
Raudenbush, S. W. (1989a). “Centering” predictors in multilevel analysis: Choices and consequences. Multilevel Modeling Newsletter, 1(2): 10-12.
49.
Raudenbush, S. W. (1989b). A response to Longford and Plewis. Multilevel Modeling Newsletter, 1(3): 8-10.
50.
Schachter, S., Ellertson, J., McBride, D. & Gregory, D. (1951). An experimental study of cohesiveness and productivity. Human Relations, 4: 229-238.
51.
Schnake, M. (1991). Organizational citizenship: A review, proposed model and research agenda. Human Relations, 44: 735-759.
52.
Schriesheim, J. F. (1980). The social context of leader-subordinate relations: An investigation of the effects of group cohesion. Journal of Applied Psychology, 65: 183-194.
53.
Settoon, R. P. & Mossholder, K. W. (1996). Interpersonal citizenship behavior: A mid-range they+ and model. Paper presented at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Cincinnati, OH.
54.
Shamir, B. (1990). Calculations, values, and identities: The sources of collectivistic work motivation. Herman Relations, 43: 313-332.
55.
Smith, C. A., Organ, D. W. & Near, J. P. (1983). Organizational citizenship behavior: Its nature and antecedents. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68: 653-663.
56.
Stroebe, W. & Frey, B. S. (1982). Self-interest and collective action: The economics and psychology of public goods. British Journal of Social Psychology, 21: 121-137.
57.
Vancouver, J. B., Millsap, R. E. & Peters, P. A. (1994). Multilevel analysis of organizational goal congruence. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79: 666-679.
58.
Van Dyne, L.. Cummings, L. L. & Parks, J. M. (1995). Extra-role behaviors: In pursuit of construct and definitional clarity (a bridge over muddied waters). Research in Organizational Behavior, 17: 215-285.
59.
Van Dyne, L., Graham, J. W. & Dienesch, R. M. (1994). Organizational citizenship behavior: Construct redefinition, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 37: 765-802.
60.
Widmeyer, W. N., Brawley, W. N. & Carron, A. V. (1990). The effects of group size in sports. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 12: 177-190.
61.
Williams, L. J. & Anderson, S. E. (1991). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship and in-role behaviors. Journal of Management, 17: 601-617.
