Do community citizenship behaviors by leaders enhance team performance? Evidence from the "field"

Abstract

Due to minimal available findings, Rodell (2016) put out a call for more research on the performance outcomes of community focused behaviors such as volunteering while acknowledging the challenge of connecting “social movements to hard data” (p.79). This study answers that call by evaluating the community citizenship behaviors (CCBs) of leaders and the potential influence on team performance. Based on existing theory and findings, this study argues that leaders who engage in CCB are likely to enhance their leadership skills, inspire their followers and produce prosocial contagion and as a result we hypothesize they will increase their team performance. Using a sample of National Football League teams and players the findings presented here support the hypothesis suggesting that investments in local communities produce a positive outcome for the community, the leader, and even the leader’s team performance.