A Historical and Political Overview of Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the Context of Social Exchange Theory
Chapter from the book:
Gülbahar,
Y.
(ed.)
2023.
Organizational Behaviour: Current Issues and Research.
Synopsis
In today's post-modern world, where uncertainty and chaos prevail, rule-based hierarchical organizations are giving their place to businesses where expert power and knowledge, and therefore people, are more important. In these new structures, where continuous change is required, the effect of individuals' behaviors within the organization on performance and the importance of directing these behaviors in a positive way increase even more in order to manage individuals and institutions. In this study, the concepts of organizational citizenship behavior and organizational politics, which are two important research areas of the organizational behavior literature, are discussed over the relationship between each other and on the basis of Social Exchange Theory. Although research on politics in the management literature has increased in recent years, it does not receive the importance it deserves. Researches generally associate politics only with manipulation and behavior aimed at protecting the interests of managers or management. This negative perception leads to an incomplete understanding and explanation of the organizational politics. But political behavior includes both positive and negative behaviors. The policies implemented by the managers and the political behaviors they exert are closely related to the potential and existing organizational citizenship behaviors of the employees. In the context of the Social Exchange Theory, it is seen that the citizenship behaviors of the employees increase to the extent that the managers meet the expectations and needs of the employees.