The Origin, Evolution, and Future of Organizational Citizenship Behavior

This collection curates 19 articles from Academy of Management journals that investigate organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)—employee behavior that goes beyond formal job duties. Using the life-cycle model, we describe phases of OCB’s evolution and explain how Organ (1977) and Bateman and Organ (1983) ignited decades of scholarly interest in OCB. In the first phase, researchers focused on understanding the nature and antecedents of OCB, particularly regarding social exchange motives. As scholars challenged the conceptualization of OCB, the second phase expanded its dimensionality and clarified its nomological network. In the third phase, researchers refined and redefined OCB, particularly by examining its “dark side.” The fourth phase added balance by jointly considering positive and negative aspects of OCB. We develop an agenda for a fifth phase to extend and update our understanding of OCB. Here, we explain how OCB may change in response to shifting work designs and dynamics, describe how harmful effects of OCB can be mitigated, discuss ways in which managers can better use and understand OCB, and identify areas where the interplay between OCB and mainstream management concepts is deficient. Collectively, we provide evidence-based insights about issues surrounding OCB that persist for scholars and business leaders alike.