Citizenship behavior and the creation of social capital in organizations

Abstract

Previous research on organizational citizenship behavior indicates that such behavior is critical for organizational effectiveness, but little theoretical work details how it might contribute to enhanced organizational functioning. Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) argue that a firm's social capital comprises a critical source of sustainable organizational advantage. Based on their work, we suggest that citizenship behaviors enhance firm functioning by contributing to the development of social capital in organizations; specifically, citizenship behaviors contribute to the creation of structural, relational, and cognitive forms of social capital.