Effects of Materialist Values and Work Centrality on Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Abstract

The current study investigates the effects of work centrality and materialistic values on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). The importance of organizational citizenship behaviors has been well documented in the management literature. Although OCBs are hard to define, researchers emphasize that these behaviors are more or less discretionary, less likely to be formally linked with organizational rewards and contribute to the organization by promoting a positive social and psychological climate. Although the accumulation of research on OCBs and related constructs is vast, materialistic values as an antecedent have received scant attention. In the current study, materialistic values and work centrality are investigated as predictors of OCB, which have inverse effects on the construct. In a cross-sectional design, 439 employees from various companies in Turkey participated in an online survey. The findings support the claim that inverse effects from work centrality and materialistic values influenced OCB. Upon deconstructing the antecedents’ impact on the dimensions of OCB, the results revealed a positive predictive effect of work centrality on helping and civic virtue. In contrast, materialistic values exerted a negative influence only on helping behaviors. Implications and future research directions are discussed in line with the findings.