Job Autonomy, Role Ambiguity, and Procedural Justice: A Multi-Conditional Process Model of Change-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Public Organizations

• Published date: 01 March 2025
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X231214978
• Author: Jesse W. Campbell
• Date: 01 March 2025
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X231214978

Review of Public Personnel Administration

2025, Vol. 45(1) 145 –171

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/0734371X231214978

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Article

Job Autonomy, Role

Ambiguity, and Procedural

Justice: A Multi-Conditional

Process Model of Change-

Oriented Organizational

Citizenship Behavior in Public

Organizations

Jesse W. Campbell1

Abstract

Job autonomy allows employees to act upon contextual knowledge to introduce

performance-enhancing work process improvements. However, autonomy is not a

sufficient condition for change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB),

as employees may lack the skills, information, or psychological safety necessary to

pursue change. I propose a job autonomy-based multi-conditional process model of

change-oriented OCB that takes into account the mediating role of job performance

and the moderating roles of both role ambiguity and procedural justice. Using a large

sample of Korean central and local government workers, I estimate a latent variable

moderated mediation model. The results suggest that the effect of job autonomy on

change-oriented OCB via job performance is strongest when role ambiguity is low

and procedural justice is high. In closing, I argue that public managers need to be

cognizant of the subtle factors that shape the impact of job autonomy on employee

behavioral outputs.

Keywords

change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior, job performance, job autonomy,

role ambiguity, procedural justice

1Incheon National University, South Korea

Corresponding Author:

Jesse W. Campbell, Department of Public Administration, Incheon National University, 119 Academy-ro,

Songdo 1-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, 22012, South Korea.

Email: jcampbell@inu.ac.kr

1214978ROPXXX10.1177/0734371X231214978Review of Public Personnel AdministrationCampbell

research-article2023

146 Review of Public Personnel Administration 45(1)

Introduction

Maintaining public service and policy performance in the face of resource, technology,

and citizen expectational volatility necessitates continuous process and policy adapta-

tion (Bak et al., 2022; Chen et al., 2023; Cho & Song, 2021; Nguyen et al., 2023).

While managers may seek greater control in times of environmental turbulence (Stazyk

& Goerdel, 2011), even the most conscientious planner will fail to anticipate every

performance challenge that will materialize during policy implementation (Peng et al.,

2015). Although the performance promise of radical innovation is alluring (Osborne &

Brown, 2011; Vigoda-Gadot et al., 2005), an understanding of public sector change is

incomplete if it ignores the ongoing micro-changes introduced by managers and front-

line employees. Performance-enhancing change initiatives originate at all levels of the

organizational hierarchy, and encouraging change-oriented behavior allows public

organizations to leverage the diffuse knowledge of workers to drive public service

improvement (Chen et al., 2023; Destler, 2016; Hansen & Pihl-Thingvad, 2019).

Failing to adapt and change, in contrast, undermines citizen satisfaction and trust (de

Vries et al., 2016; Nguyen et al., 2023). Given how crucial change-oriented behavior

is to organizational performance, better understanding the conditions that foster or

discourage it is a valuable research objective (Li & Xie, 2022; Vigoda-Gadot & Beeri,

2012).

Change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) denotes proactive

employee actions that address emergent process deficiencies or introduce micro-scale,

performance-enhancing change into work processes (Choi, 2007; Bettencourt, 2004;

Morrison & Phelps, 1999). In an influential piece, Vigoda-Gadot and Beeri (2012)

argue that change-oriented OCB has particular significance for public administration

as such behaviors in aggregate secure the long-term viability of public service delivery

and are therefore a condition of citizen satisfaction and the production of public value.

Although affiliative types of OCB have been thoroughly studied in the public admin-

istration literature (see de Geus et al., 2020, for a review), extra-role behaviors that

challenge existing work practices have received less attention (Li & Xie, 2022).

Moreover, although the importance of change-oriented OCB in the public sector can-

not be overstated, creating conditions that facilitate it is challenging. Identifying

opportunities for performance-enhancing change and subsequently designing, testing,

and implementing effective solutions is inherently difficult. However, these challenges

are compounded in the public sector, where a risk-averse environment, stringent

accountability requirements, highly formalized administrative systems, and a lack of

high-powered incentives not only reduce the scope for individual change-oriented

behavior but also expose those who pursue it to sanction (Campbell, 2022; Fernandez

& Moldogaziev, 2012; Miller & Whitford, 2006; Peng et al., 2015).

Recognizing these impediments to change and performance improvement, public

organizations have increasingly felt the need to provide managers and employees with

increased job autonomy (de Vries et al., 2016; Fernandez & Moldogaziev, 2012;

Houtgraaf et al., 2021; Lee, 2019; Overman & van Thiel, 2016; Peng et al., 2015;

Wynen et al., 2014). However, while some degree of autonomy is necessary for