Calling and job involvement: the role of prosocial motivation in the performance of mission-driven organization

Abstract

Previous studies suggested that individuals with prosocial motivation have better job performance in mission-driven organizations. However, the mediating mechanisms underlying this link remain unclear. On the basis of person-environment theory, this research proposed that work as a calling and job involvement are two important mediators between employees’ prosocial motivation and their job performance in mission-driven organizations. Through a multi-wave and muti-source approach, 420 independent subordinate–immediate supervisor dyads from 173 divisions or stations of the police department in Taiwan were obtained. Our results illustrated that the prosocial motivation-job performance relationship is sequentially mediated by work as a calling and job involvement. We further discuss implications for future research and practices in light of these findings.

Keywords:

• Calling
• contextual performance
• job involvement
• mission-driven organization
• prosocial motivation
• task performance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual adult participants included in the study.

Data availability statement

Data available on request from the authors

Additional information

Funding

The authors have no funding to disclose.