The Unintended Consequences of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors for Employees, Teams, and Organizations
Researchers have identified a number of reasons why organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) should contribute to the effective functioning of workgroups and organizations, and many studies have found that OCB is indeed positively related to both workgroup-level and organizational-level indicators of effectiveness. Nevertheless, there is mounting evidence that OCBs can sometimes have negative consequences for employees, teams, and organizations. In this chapter, we review research that has focused on these unintended consequences and explain how these negative effects could potentially undermine the positive outcomes that are typically associated with OCB. We conclude our chapter by identifying directions for future research and discussing methodological considerations for investigations of OCB’s unintended consequences. Some practical implications about managing citizenship in the workplace are addressed as well.