The Health Cost of Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Does Health-Promoting Leadership Matter?

Abstract

Previous research has mainly focused on the positive effects of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). This study questions the positive impact of OCB, arguing that there is a health cost of OCB. Based on the conservation of resource theory, this study expects that OCB triggers citizenship fatigue, which, in turn, negatively affects employees’ health and results in health complaints. This study also seeks to find a moderator (health-promoting leadership) that could mitigate the negative effects of citizenship fatigue (caused by engaging in OCB) on health complaints. To test our predictions, we collected three-wave data from 207 leader–subordinate dyads. The results of regression analyses show that OCB is positively related to employees’ health complaints, which is mediated by citizenship fatigue. Health-promoting leadership weakens the positive relationship between citizenship fatigue and health complaints, thus negatively moderating the indirect relationship between OCB and health complaints via citizenship fatigue. This study provides theoretical and practical implications for future research directions.