Government Employees’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior Amid Organizational Resource Decline: Can They Work More With Less?

• Author: Hyun Hee Park,Seong Young Jeong,Dong Chul Shim
• Published date: 01 June 2019
• Date: 01 June 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X17715501

https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X17715501

Review of Public Personnel Administration

2019, Vol. 39(2) 209 –231

© The Author(s) 2017

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DOI: 10.1177/0734371X17715501

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Article

Government Employees’

Organizational Citizenship

Behavior Amid Organizational

Resource Decline: Can They

Work More With Less?

Dong Chul Shim1, Hyun Hee Park2,

and Seong Young Jeong3

Abstract

Based on the implication of the job demands–resources (JD-R) model, this study

examined the associations between job demands (organizational resource declines

and work overload) and resources (job-goal specificity, performance feedback,

and work unit climate) with employees’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).

Although statistically significant negative associations were found between financial

and human resource decline and OCB, the associations were weak from a practical

perspective. In line with the JD-R model, this study also found that job-goal specificity,

performance feedback, and work supervisor support had positive associations with

OCB. However, the effect of work overload was found to be marginalized, and the

expected buffering role of job resources on the negative association of work overload

with OCB was not confirmed in this study.

Keywords

cutback management, organizational citizenship behavior, perceived organizational

resource decline, performance feedback, motivation

Introduction

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is defined as “individual behavior that is

discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and

that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization” (Organ,

1Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

2Kookmin University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

3Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Corresponding Author:

Hyun Hee Park, Kookmin University, 77 Jeongneung-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-702, Republic of Korea.

Email: hyunheepark@gmail.com

715501ROPXXX10.1177/0734371X17715501Review of Public Personnel AdministrationShim et al.

research-article2017

210Review of Public Personnel Administration 39(2)

1988, p. 4). OCB examples in the public sector are helping coworkers, proactive

involvement to solve citizen problems, and providing innovative ideas to solve prob-

lems with current public service provisions. Recent public management studies have

recognized the importance of OCB. For example, Vigoda-Gadot and Beeri (2012, p.

575) posited that OCB could enhance the productivity of government agencies by

“reinforcing the bureaucratic value of the good soldier syndrome, the willingness to

serve other citizens, and strengthening the overall ethos of public service.” In particu-

lar, they suggested that government employee OCB could contribute to government

agency innovation by encouraging employees to think from different perspectives to

seek ways to improve organizational performance. Securing a high OCB level could

also be important for government cutback management as employees with a high OCB

level could fill gaps in public service provision by protecting citizens’ rights and dem-

ocratic values (Shim & Faerman, 2017).

The present study sought to answer two questions. First, we examined whether

organizational resource decline had a negative association with employee OCB. As

organizational resource declines reduce training opportunities and increase workloads

for less reward, employees facing organizational resource decline might experience

emotional distress or attempt to disengage themselves from their jobs and organiza-

tions. Although several public administration scholars have discussed the potential

challenges of maintaining employee work motivation and performance in the context

of cutback management (Andrews & Ashworth, 2015; Levine, 1979), to the best of our

knowledge, few empirical studies have investigated the association between organiza-

tional resource decline and OCB. Second, this study investigated whether employee

job resources (i.e., job-goal specificity, performance feedback, and work unit climate)

played a significant role in sustaining employee OCB. Although previous studies have

found positive associations between job resources and OCB (Demerouti, Cropanzano,

Bakker, & Leiter, 2010; Saks, 2006), the associations have not been examined in the

context of government organizations. Based on the theoretical implications of the job

demands–resources (JD-R) model suggested by Bakker and Demerouti (Bakker &

Demerouti, 2007; Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001), this study

examined the work contexts that could induce government employee OCB.

The remainder of this study is structured as follows. The next section discusses the

potential associations among organizational resource decline, job resources (i.e., job

specificity, performance feedback, and work unit climate), and OCB. After this, the data

sources and items used for this study are explained. The findings from the data analyses

are then presented. The last section discusses implications and concludes the article.

Literature review and hypotheses

JD-R and OCB

The basic tenet of the JD-R model proposed by Bakker and his colleagues (Bakker &

Demerouti, 2007; Demerouti et al., 2001) is that employers face various risks in sus-

taining employee work engagement, which could be categorized into job demands and