Personality predictors of organizational citizenship behaviors

  • Sylwiusz Retowski SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Sopot
  • Maria Kaźmierczak University of Gdańsk
Keywords: OCB; empathy in work; locus of control; self-efficacy

Abstract

The present study investigated the degree to which empathy, locus of control, and self-efficacy were related to two types of organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB): those directed toward other individuals (OCB-I) and those directed toward the organization (OCB-O). Data were collected from a sample of 313 employees representing various professions. Two types of OCB were measured by means of the experimental versions of the scale developed on the basis of qualitative data. The Polish version of the questionnaires measuring empathy in work, locus of control and self-efficacy were also used. Results of regression analysis indicated that only empathy in work and self-efficacy were good predictors of OCB. Neither general locus of control nor locus of control in work were good predictors of any kind of OCB. The correlation analysis performed separately for different occupational groups revealed significant differences. In general, the controlled personality variables were better predictors of OCB-I (R2 = 32%) than OCB-O (R2 = 22%). Empathy in work turned out to be the strongest OCB predictor. Significant differences between different occupational groups suggest that the idea of conducting studies on homogeneous professional groups is worth considering.

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Published
2019-03-28
Section
Articles