Citizenship pressure and citizenship behaviours: examining different self-regulation process

Area of Science:

• Organizational Behavior
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) benefits can create citizenship pressure.
• The link between citizenship pressure, OCB, and compulsory citizenship behavior (CCB) is debated.
• Regulatory Focus Theory provides a framework for understanding individual responses to pressure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how citizenship pressure relates to OCB and CCB.
• To examine the mediating roles of promotion and prevention work regulatory focus.
• To explore the moderating effect of individual polychronicity on these relationships.

Main Methods:

• Utilized three waves of time-lagged data from 241 full-time employees in China.
• Employed statistical analysis to test hypothesized relationships.
• Applied regulatory focus theory and a stressor-work regulatory focus-outcomes framework.

Main Results:

• Citizenship pressure positively correlates with both OCB and CCB.
• Promotion and prevention regulatory focus mediate the relationship between citizenship pressure and citizenship behaviors in opposing ways.
• Higher polychronicity enhances the mediating role of promotion focus; lower polychronicity enhances prevention focus mediation.

Conclusions:

• Organizations can leverage citizenship pressure for positive outcomes by fostering promotion focus, particularly in employees with higher polychronicity.
• Assigning employees with higher polychronicity to high-pressure roles or enhancing their polychronicity can yield beneficial results.
• The study clarifies the complex relationship between citizenship pressure and citizenship behaviors by simultaneously considering OCB and CCB through the lens of regulatory focus.