Simo, Pep; Sallan, Jose M; Fernandez, Vicenc; Enache, Mihaela (2016). Change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior: Analysis of antecedents centered on regulatory theory focus at the workplace. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 24(2), 261-273.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-10-2014-0805
Abstract
Purpose – The aim of this research is to empirically examine the relationships between the regulatory focus in the workplace and discretionary (change-oriented OCB) and non-discretionary (intentions related to performance at work) work outcomes, in an academic work setting.
Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected using a questionnaire conducted with 251 Spanish academic workers. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings – Results reveal the existence of positive relationships between promotion focus and two of the outcomes: change-oriented OCB and research-oriented performance-enhancement intention. On the other hand, prevention focus had only a significant relationship with teacher-oriented performance-enhancement intention.
Research limitations/implications – The limitations of this research are twofold: on the one hand, further research should overcome the methodological limitations related with data gathering, looking for third-party measures of performance and favoring longitudinal data collection designs. On the other hand, more research is needed on the malleability of regulatory focus, defining models in which prevention and promotion focus act as mediating variables.
Practical implications – Individuals with high levels of promotion focus will put their efforts on the tasks which are more valued in the processes of tenure, promotion and compensation. On the other hand, individuals with high levels of prevention focus will tend to meet the minimum of requirements and accomplish salient job duties. These implications can be taken into account when defining human resource policies, giving a high weight in the assessment of tenure and promotion programs to those tasks on which the organization wants their promotion focus individuals to center their attention.
Originality/value – This paper is one of the first efforts of validating the regulatory focus of work scale in organizational and academic contexts different from the initial validation study. The study also contributes to research on the antecedents of change-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors, and defines new measures of intentions to perform in specific working activities.
