Abstract:
Factor analyses of existing measures of
Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) administered
across different contexts and country settings demonstrate
cross-setting consistency and support a common
dimensionality for OCB irrespective of context. Challenging
the use of generic models of OCB are concerns over the local
relevance of such generic models and the substantial variation
in OCB dimensionality in different country settings found
through research using inductive qualitative methods. Even
though these findings give conflicting understandings of the
context specificity of OCB, a review of literature found no
studies that subjected qualitatively derived dimensions to
factor analysis. This research uses factor analyses to test a
qualitatively derived, context-specific OCB model to explore
the context specificity of OCB. University academic staff
in Sri Lanka participated in two studies. Findings support
a generally accepted two-factor model and not the context
specific model. The findings suggest that even when high
contextual variations in constructs seem evident, conceptual
similarity at a more general level may be present. Past
research exploring OCB conceptualisations have used either
qualitative or quantitative methods. While qualitative methods
indicate complex and contextually specific dimensions,
quantitative methods support simpler models with more
general applicability. The findings suggest that even when
the model and items are localised, factor analyses support a
general OCB model.
