Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Research in Human Resource Management
Year: 2024
DOI:
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When Psychological Needs Meet Norms: Examining the Interplay of Self-Determination Theory, Social Influence, and the Distinct OCB Dimensions
Anh Tuan Nguyen
ABSTRACT:
Helping behavior and taking charge are two key types of promotive organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), which are needed to help organizations continuously adapt and improve in today’s rapidly changing world. However, the distinct motivations and implications of these behaviors have been received little attention, hindering the understanding and implementation of targeted strategies to encourage both. Drawing from the calls for the consideration both individual motivations and social contexts when examining these OCB dimensions, we investigate how the interplay of individual’s the three basic psychological needs in Self-Determination Theory and group cohesion explains the distinction of these behaviors. Results of a two-wave survey of 428 employees across 35 units in 8 firms in Vietnam provide support the notion that helping and taking charge stem from different motivational roots. On one hand, helping, often seen as an affiliative OCB, is primarily driven by the need for relatedness. On the other hand, taking charge, characterized as a change-oriented OCB, aligns more strongly with the need for autonomy and competence Moreover, our results also suggest the potential “dampening cross-level effect” of high cohesion on taking-charge behavior, even in the presence of high competence and autonomy. This challenges assumptions that psychological need satisfaction always leads to more of any given behavior.
keywords: organizational citizenship behavior (OCB); psychological need satisfaction; social influence; multilevel analysis; cross-level interaction