Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Impact of Job Involvement on Organizational Citizenship Behaviors in China

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between job involvement and the five dimensions of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs, altruism, courtesy, sportsmanship, conscientiousness, and civil virtue), using a sample of 1,110 from the People Republic of China. Results showed that job involvement related positively to all dimensions of OCBs. In addition, gender moderated the relationship between job involvement and three dimensions of OCBs (altruism, courtesy, sportsmanship), with males having a stronger, positive relationship between these constructs than females. The results further showed that party affiliation moderated the relationship between job involvement and three dimensions of OCBs (altruism, courtesy, and civil virtue), with party members having a strong, positive relationship between these constructs than non-party members. The results are interpreted in light of the literature both on job involvement and OCBs, and limitations of this study are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  • Anderson, V. L. (1993). Gender differences in altruism among Holocaust rescuers. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 8(1), 43–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Appleton, A., Knight, J., Song, L., & Xia, Q. (2009). The economics of communist party membership: The curious case of rising numbers and wage premium during China’s transition. The Journal of Development Studies, 45(2), 256–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 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(4), 587–595.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belansky, E. S., & Boggiano, A. K. (1994). Predicting helping behaviors: The role of gender and instrumental/expressive self schemata. Sex Roles, 30(9–10), 647–661.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bian, Y., Shu, X., & Logan, J. R. (2001). Communist party membership and regime dynamics in China. Social Forces, 79(3), 805–841.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blier, M. J., & Blier-Wilson, L. A. (1989). Gender differences in self-rated emotional expressiveness. Sex Roles, 21(3), 287–295.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolger, R., & Somech, A. (2004). Influence of teacher empowerment on teachers’ organizational commitment, professional commitment and organizational citizenship behavior in schools. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20(3), 277–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, S. P. (1996). A meta-analysis and review of organizational research on job involvement. Psychological Bulletin, 120(2), 235–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carey, J., Fox, E., & Spraggins, E. (1988). Replication of structure findings regarding interpersonal reactivity index. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 21(3), 102–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carmeli, A. (2005). Exploring determinants of job involvement: An empirical test among senior executives. International Journal of Manpower, 26(5), 457–472.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chu, C., Lee, M., Hsu, H., & Chen, I. (2005). Clarification of the antecedents of hospital nurse organizational citizenship behavior—An example from a Taiwan regional hospital. Journal of Nursing Research, 13(4), 313–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chughtai, A. A. (2008). Impact of job involvement on in-role job performance and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 9, 169–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, A. (2006). The relationship between multiple commitments and organizational citizenship behavior in Arab and Jewish culture. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69(1), 105–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conway, J. M. (1996). Additional construct validity evidence for the task/contextual performance distinction. Human Performance, 9(4), 309–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(1), 113–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deaux, K. (1984). From individual differences to social categories: Analysis of a decade’s research on gender. American Psychologist, 39(2), 105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dickson, B. J., & Rublee, M. R. (2000). Communist party members in Urban China. Comparative Political Studies, 33(1), 87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diefendorff, M. J., Brown, J. D., Kamin, M. A., & Lord, J. B. (2002). Examining the roles of job involvement and work centrality in predicting organizational citizenship behaviors and job performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(1), 93–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dobbins, G. (1985). Effects of gender on leaders’ responses to poor performance: An attributional interpretation. Academy of Management Journal, 28(3), 587–598.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eagle, A., & Wood, W. (1991). Explaining gender differences in social behavior: A meta-analytic perspective. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17(3), 306–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, M. G. (1985). A Monte Carlo study of the effects of correlated method variance in moderated multiple regression analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 36(3), 305–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fabes, R. A., & Martin, C. L. (1991). Gender and age stereotypes of emotionality. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17(5), 532–540.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldt, T., Hyvonen, K., Oja-Lipasti, T., Kinnunen, U., & Salmela-Aro, K. (2012). Do work ability and job involvement channel later personal goals in retirement? An 11-year follow-up study. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 85(5), 547–558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, M., Gibbs, M., & Auerbach, D. (1985). Age and gender dimensions of friendship. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 9(4), 489–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • George, D. M., Carroll, P., Kersnick, R., & Calderon, K. (1998). Gender-related patterns of helping among friends. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 22(4), 685–704.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo, G. 2002. Party recruitment and political participation in Mainland China. PhD, Political Science, University of Rochester.

  • Hackman, J. R., & Lawler, E. E. (1971). Employee reactions to job characteristics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 55(3), 259–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanson, R., & Mullis, R. L. (1985). Age and gender differences in empathy and moral reasoning among adolescents. Child Study Journal, 15(3), 181–188.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Hayes, T. L. (2002). Business-unit level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(2), 268–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, W. A. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33(4), 692–724.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanungo, R. N. (1979). The concept of alienation and involvement revisited. Psychological Bulletin, 86(1), 119–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanungo, R. (1982a). Measurement of job and work involvement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67(3), 341–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanungo, R. (1982b). Work alienation: An integrative approach. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kidder, D. L., & McLean, P. J. (2001). The good soldier: Who is (s) he? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22(8), 939–959.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawler, E. E. (1986). High involvement management: Participative strategies for improving organizational performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawler, E. E., & Hall, D. T. (1970). Relationship of job characteristics to job involvement, satisfaction and intrinsic motivation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 54(4), 305–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, H. Y. (1991). From revolutionary cadres to party technocrats in socialist China. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, H., Liu, P. W., Zhang, J., & Ma, N. (2007). Economic returns to communist party membership: Evidence From urban Chinese twins. The Economic Journal, 117(523), 1504–1520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lodahl, T. M., & Kejner, M. (1965). The definition and measurement of job involvement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 49(1), 24–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovell, S. E., Kahn, A. S., Anton, J., Davidson, A., Dowling, E., Post, D., et al. (1999). Does gender affect the link between organizational citizenship behavior and performance evaluation? Gender Roles, 41(5–6), 469–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moorman, R. H. (1991). Relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behavior: Do fairness perceptions influence employee citizenship? Journal of Applied Psychology, 76(6), 845–855.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, E. W. (1994). Role definitions and organizational citizenship behavior: The importance of the employee’s perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 37(6), 1543–1567.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munene, J. C. (1995). ‘Not-on-seat’: An investigation of some correlates of organizational citizenship behavior. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 44(2), 111–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Organ, D. W. (1988). Organizational citizenship behavior. Lexington: DC Heath and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Organ, D. W. (1997). Organizational citizenship behavior: It’s construct clean-up time. Human Performance, 10(2), 85–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Organ, D. W., & Ryan, K. (1995). A meta-analytic review of attitudinal and dispositional predictors of organizational citizenship behavior. Personnel Psychology, 48(4), 775–800.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paullay, I. M., Alliger, G. M., & Stone-Romero, E. F. (1994). Construct validation of two instruments designed to measure job involvement and work centrality. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(2), 224–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pisheh, M. H. M. (2011). A study of the relationship between locus of control and job involvement in Iran public employees. African Journal of Business Management, 5(34), 13217–13226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Podsakoff, P. M, & MacKenzie, S. B. (1989). A second generation measure of organizational citizenship behavior. Working paper, Indiana University.

  • Podsakoff, P. M., Mackenzie, S. B., Moorman, R. H., & Fetter, R. (1990). Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on trust, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Leadership Quarterly, 1(1), 107–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Paine, J. B., & Bachrach, D. G. (2000). Organizational citizenship behaviors: A critical review of the theoretical and empirical literature and suggestions for future research. Journal of Management, 26(3), 513–563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rotenberry, P. F., & Moberg, P. J. (2007). Assessing the impact of job involvement on performance. Management Research News, 30(3), 203–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santilli, N., & Hudson, L. (1992). Enhancing moral growth: Is communication the key? Adolescence, 27(105), 145–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C. A., Organ, D. W., & Near, J. P. (1983). Organizational citizenship behavior: Its nature and antecedents. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68(4), 655–663.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Somers, M. J., & Birnbaum, D. (1998). Work-related commitment and job performance: It’s also the nature of the performance that counts. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19(6), 621–634.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stoppard, J. M., & Gunn Gruchy, C. D. (1993). Gender, context, and expression of positive emotion. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19(2), 143–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szelenyi, I. (1987). The prospects and limits of the East European New Class project: Anauto-critical reflection on the intellectuals on the road to class power. Politics and Society, 15(1), 103–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Dyne, L., & Ang, S. (1998). Organizational citizenship behavior of contingent workers in Singapore. Academy of Management Journal, 41(6), 692–703.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Wyk, R., Vb, Boshoff., & Fva, Cilliers. (2003). The prediction of job involvement for pharmacists and accountants. Journal of Industrial Psychology, 29(3), 61–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walder, A. G. (1995). Career mobility and the communist political order. American Sociological Review, 60(3), 309–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, L. J., & Anderson, S. E. (1991). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship and in-role behavior. Journal of Management, 17(3), 601–617.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economic and Business, Shanxi University, No. 92 Wucheng Road, Taiyuan, 030006, China

    Suchuan Zhang

Authors
  1. Suchuan Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Suchuan Zhang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zhang, S. Impact of Job Involvement on Organizational Citizenship Behaviors in China. J Bus Ethics 120, 165–174 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1654-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1654-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation