Stressed and motivated? The effects of extrinsic motivational orientation and job stress on bottom-line mentality and organizational citizenship behaviors

Purpose Drawing on attention capacity theory, this paper aims to explore the personal factors that facilitate employees’ bottom-line mentality (BLM) and whether employees with a BLM are “good soldiers.” Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted two studies to test their model: a multi-wave survey study with 208 full-time employees and an experimental study with 150 working adults. Findings The results of Study 1 showed that extrinsic motivational orientation and job stress had a positive relationship with BLM and were negatively associated with organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) toward individual through BLM. In Study 2, the results replicated the positive relationships between extrinsic motivational orientation and job stress with BLM. Additionally, these factors were found to have a negative relationship with both OCB toward individual and OCB toward organization through their influence on BLM. Practical implications This study advocates that managers focus on employees’ motivational orientation, alleviate job stress and mitigate the development of employees’ BLM. Originality/value Drawing on attention capacity theory, this study reframes BLM as a strategy for allocating attention. It enriches the BLM literature by identifying extrinsic motivational orientation and job stress as key antecedents of this strategy and clarifying the relationship between BLM and OCB.