Organizational citizenship behavior

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs) are a special type of work behavior that are defined as individual behaviors that are beneficial to the organization and are discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system. These behaviors are rather a matter of personal choice, such that their omission are not generally understood as punishable. OCBs are thought to have an important impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of work teams and organizations, therefore contributing to the overall productivity of the organization.

Dennis Organ of Indiana University is widely credited with introducing OCB in academic literature. In the last three decades, it has grown to become a prominent stream of research.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior is a multi-dimensional construct; Organ (1988) identified 5 dimensions belonging to OCBs: Altruism, Courtesy, Civic Virtue, Conscientiousness and Sportsmanship. Later research has tried to add to this taxonomy other dimensions like Loyalty (Graham, 1989; Moorman & Blakely, 1995).

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