Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 1999-5
Level of Analysis Considerations in Organizational Citizenship Behaviour Research: An Empirical Investigation of Individual and Work Group Effects among Hospital Employees
An implicit assumption in previous research is that the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour is an individual level phenomenon. However, due to the use of raw score correlation-based or related analyses, previous investigations have not shown empirical support for the individual level of analysis. This study empirically tested several relationships between job satisfaction (including facets) and a specific type of citizenship behaviour in order to determine whether such relationships were relevant for individuals or for the entire work group. Results indicate an overall lack of group-based effects. Instead, individual-difference effects represent the significant relationships found in the data. Several null effects were also obtained. These results go beyond the traditional approach to organizational citizenship behaviour research because group-based relationships have been explicitly rejected rather than simply assumed to be unimportant. Evidence for individual-differences was provided by testing for levels of analysis effects in terms of individuals and work groups. Future research should assess the generalizability of these results by including tests for levels of analysis.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdermanD. Elation, depression, and helping behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology1972; 24: 91–101
2.
BalzerW. K.SmithP. C.KravitzD. E.LovellS. E.PaulK. B.ReillyB. A.ReillyC. E.Users' Manual for the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) and the Job in General (JIG) Scales. Ohio: Bowling Green State University, 1990
3.
BarnardC. I.The Functions of the Executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1938
4.
BatemanT. S.OrganD. W.Job satisfaction and the good soldier: The relationship between affect and employee citizenship. Academy of Management Journal1983; 26: 587–95
5.
BlauP. Exchange and Power in Social Life. New York: Wiley, 1964
6.
BriefA. P.MotowidloS. J.Prosocial organizational behaviors. Academy of Management Review1986; 11: 710–25
7.
BriefA. P.RobersonL.Job attitude organization: An exploratory study. Journal of Applied Social Psychology1989; 19: 717–27
8.
CobbA. T.Informal influence in the formal organization: Perceived sources of power among work unit peers. Academy of Management Journal1980; 23: 155–61
9.
CobbA. T.Informal influence in the formal organization: Psychological and situational correlates. Group and Organization Studies1986; 11: 229–53
10.
CunninghamM. R.SteinbergJ.GrevR.Wanting to and having to help: Separate motivations for positive mood and guilt-induced helping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology1980; 38: 181–92
11.
DansereauF.AluttoJ. A.YammarinoF. J.Theory Testing in Organizational Behaviour: The Varient Approach. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1984
12.
DansereauE.GraenG.HagaW.A vertical dyad linkage approach to leadership within formal organizations: A longitudinal investigation of the role making process. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance1975; 13: 46–78
13.
DansereauF.MarkhamS. E.Levels of analysis in personnel and human resources management. In: RowlandK.FerrisJ.eds. Research in Personnel and Human Resources. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1987
14.
GeorgeJ. M.Personality; affect, and behavior in groups. Journal of Applied Psychology1990; 75: 107–16
15.
GeorgeJ. M.State or trait: Effects of positive mood on prosocial behaviors at work. Journal of Applied Psychology1991; 76: 299–307
16.
GeorgeJ. M.BettenhausenK.Understanding prosocial behaviour, sales performance, and turnover: A group-level analysis in a service context. Journal of Applied Psychology1990; 75: 698–709
17.
GraenG. B.OrrisD.JohnsonT.Role assimilation processes in a complex organization. Journal of Vocational Behavior1973; 3: 395–420
18.
GrahamJ. W.Organizational Citizenship Informed by Political Theory. Chicago: Academy of Management, 1986
19.
HaggardE. Intraclass Correlation and the Analysis of Variance. New York: Dryden Press, 1958
20.
HairJ. F.AndersonR. E.TathamR. L.GrablowskyB. J.Multivariate Data Analysis. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1984
21.
HoganR. A socioanalytic theory of personality. In: PageM., ed. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983
22.
HoganJ.HoganR.BuschC. M.How to measure service orientation. Journal of Applied Psychology1984; 69: 167–73
23.
IronsonG. H.SmithP. C.BrannickM. T.GibsonW. M.PaulK. B.Construction of a “Job in General” scale: A comparison of global, composite, and specific measures. Journal of Applied Psychology1989; 74: 193–200
24.
IsenA. M.ClarkM.SchwartzM. F.Duration of the effect of good mood on helping: Footprints on the sands of time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology1976; 34: 385–93
25.
IsenA. M.LevinA. F.Effects of feeling good on helping: Cookies and kindness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology1972; 21: 384–88
26.
KatzD. The motivational basis of organizational behavior. Behavioral Science1964; 9: 131–3
27.
LevinP. F.IsenA. M.Further studies on the effects of feeling good on helping. Sociometry1975; 38: 141–7
28.
MarkhamS. E.Pay-for-performance dilemma revisited: Empirical example of the importance of group effects. Journal of Applied Psychology1988; 73: 172–80
29.
MarkhamS. E.McKeeG. H.Declining organizational size and increasing unemployment rates: Predicting employee absenteeism from within- and between-plant perspectives. Academy of Management Journal1991; 34: 952–65
30.
McCraeR. R.CostaP. T.Jr. Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology1987; 52: 81–90
31.
McKeeG. H.Multi-level Investigation of Absence Climate: Individuals, Supervisory Groups, and Plants. Blacksburg: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1988
32.
MotowidloS. J.Does job satisfaction lead to consideration and personal sensitivity?Academy of Management Journal1984; 27: 910–15
33.
NunnallyJ. C.Psychometric Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978
34.
O'ReillyC.IIIChatmanJ.Organizational commitment and psychological attachment: The effects of compliance, identification, and internalization on prosocial behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology1986; 71: 492–9
35.
OrganD. W.Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Good Soldier Syndrome. Lexington: Lexington Books, 1988a
36.
OrganD. W.A restatement of the satisfaction-performance hypothesis. Journal of Management1988b; 14: 547–57
37.
OrganD. W.The motivational basis of organizational citizenship behavior. Research in Organizational Behavior1990; 12: 43–72
38.
OrganD. W.KonovskyM. A.Cognitive versus affective determinants of organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology1989; 74: 157–64
39.
PodsakoffP. M.MacKenzieS. B.MoormanR. H.FetterR.Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on followers' trust in leader, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Leadership Quarterly1990; 1: 107–42
40.
PufferS. M.Prosocial behaviour, noncompliant behavior, and work performance among commission sales people. Journal of Applied Psychology1987; 72: 615–21
41.
SchneiderB. The people make the place. Personnel Psychology1987; 40: 437–53
42.
SmithC. A.OrganD. W.NearJ. P.Organizational citizenship behavior: Its nature and antecedents. Journal of Applied Psychology1983; 68: 655–63
43.
SmithP. C.BalzerW.BrannickM.ChiaW.EgglestonS.GibsonW.. The revised JDI: A facelift for an old friend. The Industrial Organizational Psychologist1987; 24: 31–3
44.
SmithP. C.KendallL. M.HulinC. L.The Measurement of Satisfaction in Work and Retirement. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1969
45.
SmithP. C.KendallL. M.HulinC. L.The Job Descriptive Index. Ohio: Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, 1985
46.
WilliamsL. Affective and Nonaffective Components of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment as Determinants of Organizational Citizenship and In-role Behaviors. Bloomington: Indiana University, 1988
47.
WilliamsL.AndersonS. E.Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship and in-role behaviors. Journal of Management1991; 17: 601–17
48.
WimbushJ. C.Ethical Climates and Ethical Behavior. Blacksburg: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991
49.
YammarinoF. J.DubinskyA. J.Salesperson performance and managerially controllable factors: An investigation of individual and work group effects. Journal of Management1990; 16: 87–106
50.
YammarinoF. J.MarkhamS. E.On the application of Within and Between Analysis: Are absence and affect really group-based phenomena?Journal of Applied Psychology1992; 77: 168–76
51.
YammarinoF. J.NaughtonT. J.Time spent communicating: A multiple levels of analysis approach. Human Relations;1988; 41: 655–76
