Predicting Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Integrating the Functional and Role Identity Approaches

Motive and role identity, previously studied as predictors of volunteerism, were examined as correlates of another discretionary prosocial behavior, Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). County employees (181 females, 62 males) completed questionnaires that measured frequency of OCB, motives for the behavior, and the degree to which the respondents had developed an organizational citizen identity. Motives concerned with the desire to help co-workers and/or the organization proved to be better predictors of OCB than those concerned with the desire for Impression Management. A citizen role identity also correlated with citizenship behavior but, contrary to expectation, mediated the relationship between OCB and motive only partly. The findings suggest that similar mechanisms are involved in sustaining both volunteerism and OCB.