2016 Annual Conference

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) are positive, voluntary behaviors that contribute to the success of an organization or team. In many organizational settings, these behaviors are seen as a desired facet of employee performance. This session will explore whether or not that is true for faculty in higher education.

This session is for all ranks of professors in higher education as well as administrators and others interested in issues of faculty performance.

The construct of OCBs is an established field of inquiry, taking root with Dennis Organ’s (1988) work, Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Good Soldier Syndrome. Since then, researchers have begun to expand the body of knowledge around OCBs and a great deal of empirical research has been devoted to examining the antecedents and predictors of OCBs (Konovsky & Organ, 1996; Moorman, 1991; Organ, 1997; Podsakoff & MacKenzie, 1997; Smith, Organ, & Near, 1983).
Though the majority of research examining OCBs has focused on employees in the private sector, a handful of studies have given attention to OCBs in the educational context, particularly among secondary teachers and students (see for example, Allison, Voss, & Dryer, 2001; DiPaola & Hoy, 2005; Jimmieson, Hannam, & Yeo, 2010). However, little research has been conducted regarding OCBs in the higher education context. Even though some studies have included samples from higher education employees, these studies have been undertaken to understand the linkages between OCBs and other constructs rather than understanding OCBs in the work context of higher education.
This session conceptually explores the issue of OCB and faculty performance of work. In other words, we address the issue of whether OCB are a positive set of behaviors for faculty given the role we play and duties we carry out.