Organizational citizenship behavior in the military context: Are we missing the mark?

ABSTRACT

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), discretionary behavior that promotes organizational effectiveness, is a well-developed construct with great importance to the military. Despite its significance, few studies have examined OCB within the armed services. Those that have tended to use existing OCB scales without additional validation and only minimal adaptation to the military context. This is problematic because of the distinctive features of the American armed services, such as the substantial power leaders possess to compel behavior and the uniqueness of behaviors that create military value. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate five OCBs and a second-order OCB factor that are fully discretionary and produce unique and substantial value for the military. These military OCBs include sacrificing, providing positive word-of-mouth endorsement of the military, voluntary retention in the organization, voluntary participation in activities, and use of services that improve welfare and readiness. Some of these behaviors are so vital that the military could not achieve its mission without them. This study also seeks to understand and assess antecedents of military OCB. Using survey data from several Army populations and a series of validation analyses, the results reveal five military OCB factors, a second-order OCB construct, and four new military OCB antecedents. Opportunities and implications for the use of military OCBs are developed and the limitations of the study are examined.

KEYWORDS:

• Organizational citizenship behavior
• military
• organizational identification
• job satisfaction
• motives

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request: www.westpoint.edu/behavioral-sciences-and-leadership/profile/todd_woodruff

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. Retention or reenlistment is not frequently discussed as an OCB, but it meets the definitional standard of being fully discretionary and creating significant organizational value. U.S. military personnel must volunteer to reenlist or extend every 1–6 years and is a common behavior and point of discussion in military units.

2. Model correlations, means, and standard deviations available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication of this article.