Effects of Workers’ Careers and Family Situations on OCB-Related Work Values

Abstract

A variety of reasons why workers exhibit organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) have been discussed; one that has received limited attention is that certain of workers’ work values (i.e., their OCB-related ones) cause them to take certain types of discretionary contributions to organizations for granted. We investigate the effects of workers’ careers and family situations on OCB-related work values by examining data collected from 6,860 Japanese workers. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed some expected effects of labor hours, marital status, and annual income on work values relevant to OCB for individuals (OCBI) and OCB for the organization (OCBO). However, male workers’ organizational tenure was not associated with OCB-related work values, whereas that of female workers was negatively associated with OCBI-related work values, contrary to expectations. Some implications for future research are also discussed.