A study of organizational citizenship behaviors in a retail setting

This study investigates the potential antecedents of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) in a retail setting. Much remains unknown about the factors affecting OCBs in retail settings. Several characteristics of retail jobs, as compared with other organizational behavior contexts, suggest the need to examine antecedents of OCBs. Job attitudes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment) are proposed as direct predictors of OCBs. Leadership support, professional development, and empowerment are posited as indirect predictors of OCBs and direct predictors of job attitudes. The possible moderating impacts of employee demographics and job types on the modeled relationships are also examined. The research hypotheses are tested using data collected from 211 frontline employees who work in a retail setting. The employees have customer-contact roles in the upscale food and grocery retailer that participated in the study. The pattern of results is more complex than hypothesized. Job attitudes are related to OCBs but the mediating role of job attitudes is not supported. The relationships between leadership support, professional development, and empowerment, and OCBs and job attitudes differ systematically. Evidence of how employee demographics can alter the modeled relationships is also presented. The findings have significant implications for the theory and practice of managing frontline employees. Limitations of the study are discussed and a program of further research is sketched. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved