The relationship between individualistic/ collectivistic orientation and organizational citizenship behavior and the possible influence of leadership style

The purpose of this research is to obtain insights into how individualistic or collectivistic Dutch individuals really are, how this individualistic/ collectivistic orientation influences their Organizational Citizenship Behavior and in what way this relationship can be altered by using an empowering and paternalistic leadership style. The study seeks to find indicators of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) in individuals’ individualistic / collectivistic orientations. First the extent to which respondents are individualistic and/ or collectivistic has been investigated. An individualistic cultural orientation pertains to "a loosely knit framework in which people are supposed to take care of themselves and of their immediate families only” (Hofstede, 1980, p45). A collectivistic cultural orientation is characterized by "a tight social framework in which people distinguish between in-groups and out-groups; they expect their in-group (relatives, clans, organizations) to look after them, and in exchange for that they feel they owe absolute loyalty to it. " (Hofstede, 1980, p45). The I/C orientation has been dimensionalized by Triandis and Gelfand (1998) into horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. OCB is generally defined as behavior that goes beyond the formal requirements of the job and is beneficial to the organization. Also, OCBs are defined as work-related behaviors that are discretionary, not related to the formal organizational reward system, and promote the effective functioning of the organization. (Organ, 1988; in Pillai, Schriesheim & Williams, 1999, p898). OCB has been dimensionalized into interpersonal facilitation (OCB towards others), job dedication (OCB towards the job) and organizational support (OCB towards the organization). Also commitment to the manager has been investigated to measure commitment. By using a written scenario describing an empowering or paternalistic leadership style, the influence of this leadership style on the relationship between individualistic/ collectivistic (I/C) orientation and OCB performance was investigated. The research was performed by distributing two questionnaires among 100 academic students with a one week interval between the questionnaires. Previously to answering the second questionnaire, the respondents were asked to read a scenario I/C orientation, OCB & Leadership style 5 of either an empowering leadership style or a paternalistic leadership style and to imagine they were an employee working for the manager described in the scenario while they answered the questions of the second questionnaire. The first questionnaire measured I/C orientation, OCB and commitment to the manager, the second quesionnaire only measured OCB and commitment to the manager. Horizontal individualism was found to be most prominent in the sample. I/C orientation does influence the kind of OCB that is performed: An individualistic orientation (horizontal and vertical) is positvely related to job dedication. Collectivism (horizontal and vertical) relates positively to interpersonal facilitation and organizational support. A collectivistic orientation (horizontal and vertical) also relates positively to commitment to the manager. The performance of OCB can be influenced positively by introducing an empowering leadership style. The introduction of the scenario with the paternalistic leadership style did not have a significant influence on OCB. Leadership style, however, did not influence influence the relationship between I/C ortientation and OCB. I/C orientation, OCB & Leadership style 6