Antecedents of civic virtue and altruistic organizational citizenship behavior in Macau

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationships between two dimensions of communication satisfaction – personal feedback and supervisory communication – on outcomes such as altruistic organizational citizenship behavior and civic virtue. Another aim is to examine the mediating role of organizational justice (OJ) between these two dimensions of communication satisfaction and altruistic organizational citizenship behavior and civic virtue. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a survey conducted in major organizations in Macau SAR, China. Data from 294 respondents who successfully completed the questionnaire is used for the analysis. Findings The results reveal that supervisory communication is significantly and positively associated with altruistic organizational citizenship behavior. Both personal feedback and supervisory communication are significantly and positively associated with civic virtue. OJ is a mediator between personal feedback and civic virtue. OJ also mediates the relationship between satisfaction with supervisory communication and civic virtue. It is intriguing that OJ is not a mediator in the relationship between satisfaction with communication and altruistic organizational citizenship behavior. Research limitations/implications A single city cross-sectional study presents some restrictions on the generalizability of the findings. More studies are needed to understand communication satisfaction – organizational citizenship behavior processes to establish if the findings hold with other samples in other cultures. Practical implications The empirical evidence in this study shows that satisfaction with communication is critical for promoting discretionary behaviors. The mediating roles of OJ between personal feedback and civic virtue and between supervisory communication and civic virtue, clearly indicate that even though a manager may try hard to motivate employees’ participation in discretionary behaviors, whether employees participate in extra-role behaviors depends on their perception of justice. Originality/value This is the first study to examine how altruistic organizational citizenship behavior and civic virtues are influenced by satisfaction with communication. Moreover, the mediating role of OJ has never been tested previously. The findings contribute to the HR literature and provide deeper insights on how to promote citizenship behavior.