Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Abstract

The Problem

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) are discretionary employee behaviors, such as helping fellow employees or voluntarily promoting the organization, that are important contributors to several aspects of performance in organizations. One of the defining aspects of OCBs is that these behaviors are offered freely by employees; they are engaged in voluntarily. However, for some employees, these kinds of behaviors may be considered expected or required as part of the employees in-role job prescriptions. This is the case with Soldiers in the United States Army.

The Solution

In this conceptual paper, we juxtapose the treatment and conceptualization of OCBs in Army work culture with that in civilian work culture and posit that individuals transitioning from a career in military service to a civilian career may encounter a need for reframing these behaviors in their new work contexts.

The Stakeholders

For Soldiers, OCB-like behaviors are expected as part of their role and are measured in evaluations of performance. Because these behaviors are required of service members, but discretionary for most civilian employees, dissonance can be created for Soldiers transitioning from a military career to the civilian workforce.