Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB):

Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is a unique aspect of individual activity at work, first mentioned in the early 1980s. According to Organ's (1988) definition, It represents "individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and in the aggregate promotes the efficient and effective functioning of the organization" (p.4). This special behavior has become a lively research field investigated by organizational sociologists, psychologists, and management researchers. However, whereas most of the studies appear to deal with the phenomenon from a behavioral/functional perspective the natural orientation of citizenship to the political science arena is overlooked.

Two main facets of OCB are mentioned in previous studies: (1) OCB altruistic, and (2) OCB compliance. Whereas altruism appears to represent the help to specific persons, generalized compliance is a factor defined by a more impersonal sort of conscientiousness. It implies more of a "good soldier" or "good citizen" syndrome of doing things that are "right and proper", but doing them for the sake of the system rather than for specific persons. In the view of Smith et al. (1983), the two elements represent distinct classes of citizenship. This study tries to identify the main variables that can explain both dimensions of OCB from the two perspectives mentioned before. It uses studies mentioned in relevant management literature and also by studies dealing with citizenship from a political point of view. The political aspect of citizenship consists of three elements: (1) obedience; (2) loyalty, and; (3) participation. Only the last two will have a significant implication in this study because they represent the informal behavior of "good citizens." Furthermore, the integrative model attempts to explain OCB with the help of additional variables, which to our knowledge, have never been mentioned or examined empirically in previous studies. Thus, the integrative model puts together two aspects to explain OCBs: (1) the behavioral/functional aspect, and; (2) the political aspect.

As mentioned before, this study proposes a new integrative model to explain citizenship behaviors in the organization by pointing out its characteristics and different aspects. The theoretical approach was based on four sub-models consisting of common meaning: (1) the demographic model; (2) the environmental/political model; (3) the structural model, and; (4) the situational model. The direct relationships between the four models and OCBs were examined together with the analysis of formal behavior expected of employees in the organization. The study also tries to examine the relative correlations of the four models with each other, trying to asses the contribution of every sub-model to the explanation of OCBs. The basic argument of the study is that different relationships can be established between the four sub-models and the dimensions of OCB. The basic hypotheses of the study are: (1) Employees acting politically outside the organization will also tend to do so in the organization;
(2) Employees taking part in the organizational decision-making process will tend to perform more OCBs as compared with those who do not feel involved in the decision-making process;
(3) Job satisfaction is related positively to different dimensions of OCB; (4) Organizational commitment is positively related to different dimensions of OCB.

Data was collected from employees in one of the major public health organizations in Israel. A total of 345 questionnaires were distributed in 16 clinics to administrative and medical personnel; 200 usable questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 58%. About a month after the survey, supervisors in each of the clinics provided OCBs for each employee who completed a questionnaire. The findings show significant relationships between job status, participation in decision-making/centralization and organizational commitment, and the two dimensions of OCB. Job satisfaction was correlated to OCB compliance. The environmental/political sub-model appeared to have a significant contribution to the explanation of OCB compliance. The contribution of the other models to the explanation of OCB is also significant.
In addition to the theoretical implications of this study, there are also practical ones. The discussion is closely related to the analysis of the public sector in which the data was collected. The implications of the study are relevant to other studies regarding employees performances, its assessment and influence on organizational efficiency, and its effectiveness and success. The generalizability of this study to the private sector and to different kinds of organizations is also reviewed. Recommendations are made for further research that could shed more light on OCBs as a unique phenomenon at work