Employee Age & Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Transcription

1 Employee Age & Organizational Citizenship Behavior An empirical study on the influence of Occupational Future Time Perspective MASTER S THESIS HUMAN RESOURCE STUDIES A.V.R.P. Mauritz Supervisor: Dr. T.A.M. Kooij Theme: Older Workers September 2010 May 2012

2 Abstract This study investigates the relation between employee age and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Research on the latter having previously returned inconclusive results, indirect effects of age on OCB via occupational future time perspective (i.e.,, the perception of remaining time and remaining opportunities in professional life) were investigated. Concretely, a positive indirect effect of age on OCB through perceived remaining time was hypothesized: older employees would display more OCB, through their more restricted remaining time FTP. This has only been confirmed for courtesy OCB. By contrast, a negative indirect effect of age on OCBs directed at the organization was expected through perceived remaining opportunities: younger workers would to display more OCBs directed at the employer, because of their larger remaining opportunities FTP. This has only been confirmed for civic virtue OCB. Positive direct effects of age on sportsmanship- and civic virtue OCBs were found, together with a negative direct relation between age and courtesy OCB. However, with the exception of sportsmanship OCB, the direct effects of age on OCB should be interpreted with caution, because of resulting from inconsistent mediations via occupational FTP. The latter was thus found to be a crucial predictor of OCB. Keywords Organizational citizenship behavior, employee age, (occupational) future time perspective, remaining time, remaining opportunities, socio-emotional selectivity theory, social exchange theory, employee (dis)engagement.

3 Acknowledgments First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Dorien Kooij for her extensive feedback and good advice all along the road that led to successful completion of this Master s Thesis. Furthermore, my thanks also go out to the second reader Dr. Marianne van Woerkom for her useful remarks on the concept-version, as well as Luc van Baest for offering me advise on its statistical part. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, who actively supported me and provided me with useful advice during brainstorming and writing, as well as friends at Tilburg University for offering me their moral support and advice whenever I needed during the writing process. Thank you all. Vincent Mauritz, May

4 Table of Contents 1 Introduction 5 2 Theoretical Framework & Hypotheses 8 Chronological age and OCB 8 Age and OCB: a positive association? 8 Age and OCB: a negative association? 9 Occupational FTP as a mediator between age and OCB 10 Remaining time FTP as a mediator between age and OCB 11 Chronological age and remaining time FTP 11 Remaining time FTP and OCB 12 Remaining opportunities FTP as a mediator between age and OCB 15 Chronological age and remaining opportunities FTP 15 Remaining opportunities FTP and OCB 16 Conceptual model 19 Method 20 Data collection and sample characteristics 20 Concept Operationalization 21 Chronological age 21 Occupational FTP 21 Organizational Citizenship Behavior 23 Control Variables 24 Statistical analysis procedure 25 Preliminary analyses 25 Hierarchical multiple regression 25 2

5 Results 27 Bivariate correlations 27 Hierarchical multiple regression 29 Chronological age and OCB 29 Control Variables 29 Remaining time FTP as a mediator between age and OCB 30 Age and remaining time FTP 30 Remaining time FTP and OCB 31 Inconsistent mediation effects via remaining time FTP 31 Remaining opportunities FTP as a mediator between age and OCB 33 Age and remaining opportunities FTP 33 Remaining opportunities FTP and OCB 34 Inconsistent mediation effects via remaining opportunities FTP 34 Conclusion & Discussion 39 Summary 39 Discussion 40 Chronological age and OCB 40 Occupational FTP and OCB 41 Remaining time FTP and OCB 42 Remaining opportunities FTP and OCB 44 Theoretical implications 45 Limitations & Suggestions for further research 45 Practical implications 48 References 49 Appendices 53 Factor analysis (PCA) on all Occupational FTP items 53 Dutch questionnaire 54 3

6 Introduction The workforce in the vast majority of the western countries is rapidly aging (Kooij, de Lange, Jansen, Kanfer & Dikkers, 2010). In the Netherlands in particular, the percentage of the labor force to have reached the age of 55 or more has increased from 7,7% in 2000 to 14,1% in 2010 (CBS Statline, 2010), and is likely to increase even more with the plans for raising the retirement age in different countries (from 65 to 66, and ultimately 67 in the Dutch case). Moreover, policies promoting longer remaining in the workforce are actively preconized by the European Union, while the latter also discourages early retirement arrangements, keeping demographic developments in mind (Desmette & Gaillard, 2008). Age is therefore becoming a leading topic for HR professionals in the nearby future (Kooij et al., 2010). Therefore, it is important to conduct extensive research on the influence of age within the research fields of both Human Resources and Organizational Psychology (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004). Hereby, it is important to take into account in practice the specific needs, but also to emphasize the potential benefits of an aging workforce (Kooij, 2010). Indeed, while still many prejudices persist stating that older people become a burden to organizations as they age (e.g., their lack of flexibility and diminished openness to learning) (Hershey, Jacobs-Lawson & Neukam, 2002), older employees can also be potentially very valuable to organizations. Findings from research and practice suggest that, when managed properly, employing an older workforce can be an important asset, because of its greater experience and knowledge (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004). Moreover, aging workers are commonly considered to be more reliable, productive, loyal and committed to the organization (Harper, Khan, Saxena & Leeson, 2006; Ng & Feldman, 2008), and are better able to socialize with co-workers (Harper et al., 2006). Considering the above-cited advantages of older employees, another possible positive outcome is an increased amount of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (Further: OCB), which will be the particular focus of the present research. Organizational Citizenship Behavior has been defined as Individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization (Organ, 1997). 4

7 Although Podsakoff et al. (2000) state that there is a large inconsistency among researchers on the precise definition of the term OCB, the definition by Organ (1997) still well represents the core of the concept. Indeed, as the word discretionary states, the effort invested in this particularly desirable behavior is not directly recompensed, since it implies going beyond the formal requirements of the job (Organ, 1997). OCB is, however, highly beneficial to organizational performance, since such behavior strongly enhances productivity (Jahangir et al., 2008). Moreover, having a strongly motivated workforce prepared to go beyond formal job descriptions, and actively participating in organizational matters as good citizens in the aggregate creates a pleasant working climate and ultimately contributes to a good corporate image (Organ, 1997). Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman & Fetter (1990) further divided the rather broad OCB concept into five dimensions: altruism-, courtesy-, sportsmanship-, conscientiousnessand civic virtue OCBs. Altruism OCB is related to helping colleagues with work-related problems without specific personal interest. Courtesy OCB refers to protecting co-workers for making mistakes, while also protecting them encountering problems by keeping them wellinformed on the potential impact of one s actions. Sportsmanship OCB implies not making problems out of small issues, nor needlessly delay organizational functioning by constantly complaining. Conscientiousness OCB is about being punctual, high in attendance and going beyond the formal requirements of the job. Finally, the concept of civic virtue OCB refers to actively participating in (non-mandatory) meetings regarding the future of the organization and representing the latter well, thus acting as a good citizen (Organ, 1997). Over the years, a large amount of research on OCB has been conducted, emphasizing both antecedents and consequences (Podsakoff, Mac Kenzie, Paine & Bachrach, 2000). However, many scholars failed to find a significant relationship between age and OCB (Coyle-Shapiro, 2002; Pettit, Donohue & De Cieri, 2004; Kumar, Bakhshi & Rani, 2009; Singh & Singh, 2009). Jahangir, Muzahid Akbar and Haq (2004) signal that different salient motives among both younger and older workers may drive them to display OCB. This research will re-examine more in depth the relation between OCB and employee age. Age, however, is not a single, narrow, clear-defined concept as the commonly used chronological definition of the term suggests (Kooij, De Lange, Jansen & Dikkers, 2007). The latter indeed only refers to one s calendar age, or time lived starting at birth (Kooij et al., 2007). Instead, the multidimensionality of the concept induced the development of many 5

8 definitions across the years (Sterns and Miklos, 1995). These include both objective and subjective factors: organizational, life-span, psychosocial and functional age (Sterns & Doverspike, 1989, as cited in Kooij et al., 2007). Concretely, the present research will therefore incorporate a psychosocial variant of age, occupational FTP, as a possible mediator of the effect between age and OCB. Occupational FTP refers to the perception by individuals of the length of the professional time they have left in the future, and how they perceive this time (Cate & John, 2007). It is therefore a subjective measure of age (Carstensen, Isaacowitz & Charles, 1999), which is expected to be conductive to an indirect effect of age on OCB: it is hypothesized that the way employees perceive their professional future will predict their tendency to display OCB. Consequently, the central research question therefore reads as follows: To what extent is the relation between employee age and various aspects of organizational citizenship behavior mediated by workers remaining time and / or remaining opportunities Future Time Perspective? In order to give a structured answer to the research question above, the following subquestions have been formulated: - What is the influence of chronological age on different facets of employees OCB? - What is the influence of remaining time FTP on employees OCB? - What is the influence of remaining opportunities FTP on employees OCB? - Is the relation between chronological age and OCB mediated by remaining time and / or remaining opportunities FTP? 6

9 Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses Chronological age and OCB As stated earlier, the present body of research on the relation between employee age and OCB rendered inconclusive, mostly insignificant results on the subject (Coyle-Shapiro, 2002; Pettit et al., 2004; Kumar et al., 2009; Singh & Singh, 2009). Some arguments will be given in the next section in favor of a positive relation between the two variables, but also of a negative association with workers OCB. Chronological age and OCB: A positive relation? Older employees are expected to be more cooperative with their colleagues (Singh & Singh, 2010), compared to their younger counterparts. Indeed, older workers were previously found to have more positive psychological senses of community and to be less competitively oriented compared to younger employees (Singh & Singh, 2010). By contrast, the latter were found to be focused upon their own career development instead, resulting in less time and effort directed at co-workers (Singh & Singh, 2010). Thus, older people are expected to display more (discretionary) OCB towards co-workers (i.e.,, altruism- and courtesy OCBs) compared to younger employees, the latter being merely focused on their own career development. Furthermore, because of their longer work experience, older employees have learned to cope with negative experiences in a better way, and have a more objective view on what to expect from the organization, compared to younger cohorts (Bal, de Lange, Jansen & van der Velde, 2010). Older employees will thus emphasize the positive sides of their organization as they age (Zacher & Frese, 2009), will subsequently complain less, and thus display an increased amount of sportsmanship OCB. Increased attachment to the organization on behalf of older people is expected to lead them to display more OCBs directed at the organization (i.e.,, conscientiousness- and civic virtue OCBs). Older and longer-tenured employees were previously found to be more affectively committed to the organization (Mayer & Schoorman, 1998; Salami, 2008). Ng and 7

10 Feldman (2011) in turn found a positive relation between commitment and OCB, and state in this respect that affective organizational commitment may spark employees willingness to engage in OCB. Thus, people with less expansive future time ahead are expected to also display more conscientiousness OCB (i.e., obeying company rules, having a conscientious work ethic). Furthermore, aging workers increasingly adopt work motives based on feeling needed by others, and the drive to give their knowledge back to the new generations (Pettit et al., 2004). This behavior motive is commonly referred to as generativity (Mor-Barak, 1995; Kooij & Van de Voorde, 2011): (older) adults tend to view work as a way of nurturing, teaching, leading, promoting (McAdams, de St. Aubin & Logan, 1993), as well as train, teach, and share knowledge with younger cohorts (Mor-Barak, 1995). Therefore, aging people are presumed to be increasingly focused on transfer of knowledge and experience to younger colleagues (Cate & John, 2007), for the purpose of saving their expertise as their personal professional heritage within the organization (Mor-Barak, 1995). Because of having more specific knowledge due to their more extensive general experience (Morrow & McElroy, 1987) and willingness to voluntarily share it (Mor-Barak, 1995), older employees are more likely to contribute to the noncore dimensions of work performance (Ng & Feldman, 2008), through participating in meetings regarding the organization s future (i.e., civic virtue OCB). In all, considering the expected positive influence of chronological age on all five OCB aspects, the following hypothesis has been formulated: Hypothesis 1a: Chronological age is positively associated with OCB, employees displaying more OCBs as they age. Chronological age and OCB: A negative relation? Alternatively, one could also think of arguments leading to the expectation that older employees will display less OCBs specifically directed at the organization (i.e., conscientiousness- and civic virtue OCBs). Concretely, older people will gradually withdraw themselves from the work context (Desmette & Gaillard, 2008), and instead shift their priorities to seeking fulfillment in the private life sphere (e.g.,, family and leisure) (Carstensen et al., 1999; Zacher & Frese, 2009). This psychological process is commonly referred to as 8

11 disengagement (Hewitt, 2009), and can be defined as: the uncoupling of selves from work roles, where people withdraw themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally from work performances (Kahn, 1990). Personal disengagement can thus be interpreted as an employee s psychological response to regulation of age-related losses of abilities (Carstensen et al., 1999), and is therefore especially applicable to older employees with regard to their professional identity (Zacher & Frese, 2009). In turn, Chiu & Tsai (2006) signal that a sense of diminished personal accomplishment will lead to less OCB, aging people being substantially less focused on actively contributing to the organization s performance (Löckenhoff & Carstensen, 2004). Following this line of argument, aging workers will gradually shift more responsibilities in decision-making regarding the organization s future to the more ambitious new generations, and will thus display less OCBs specifically directed at the organization (i.e.,, conscientiousness- and civic virtue OCBs). In all, considering the expected negative influence of chronological age on OCBs towards the employer, the following competing hypothesis has been formulated as an alternative for Hypothesis 1a concerning conscientiousness- and civic virtue OCBs: Hypothesis 1b: Chronological age is negatively associated with OCB, employees displaying less OCBs directed at the organization (i.e.,, conscientiousness- and civic virtue OCBs) as they age. Occupational FTP as a mediator between chronological age and OCB Future Time Perspective is the subjective perception by individuals of their future time (Cate & John, 2007). The term occupational added to the concept relates the concept of FTP to a particular occupation (Zacher & Frese, 2009), in this case the individual professional career. It is related to the concept of psychosocial age, thus influenced by the self-perception of an individual s own age and future, depending on health situation and social norms on age and older people, particularly within the workforce (cf.,, Sterns & Doverspike, 1989, as cited in Kooij et al., 2007). As the definition shows, there are two dimensions to be distinguished within the concept of occupational FTP (Zacher & Frese, 2009). The first component is related to remaining time at work (Carstensen, 2006), which refers to the perceived time until 9

12 retirement. Secondly, the concept of perceived remaining opportunities refers to future possibilities left within the work setting (Cate & John, 2007). Despite FTP being largely influenced by age, it is expected to lead to different outcomes, depending on which of its aspects (i.e.,, remaining time- or remaining opportunities FTP) is being analyzed. Concretely, these two distinct aspects of occupational FTP are expected to be conductive of respectively positive and negative mediation effects on the relation between employee age and OCB. Remaining time FTP as a mediator between age and OCB As stated above, remaining time FTP is expected to mediate the effect between age and OCB: aging people, being expected to perceive less remaining time ahead, will display more OCBs because of an increased focus on their social relationships at work, better emotion regulation techniques, more conscientiousness and generativity motives of knowledge transfer. Chronological age and remaining time FTP A negative effect of age on remaining time FTP is expected, older people perceiving less remaining time than younger people. Despite age is increasingly stated to be important by organizations when considering the implementation of HR practices and job designs, a large incongruity still remains between theory and practice: HRM in organizations is still largely targeted at motivating younger and middle-aged employees (Kooij, 2010). Indeed, many job designs and HR policies still insufficiently meet the changing needs of aging employees (Desmette & Gaillard, 2008). As people age, they are increasingly focused on security motives and working in a pleasant social environment (Carstensen et al., 1999), topics being insufficiently addressed in mainstream HR practices (Kooij, 2010). 10

13 As a result, aging employees still face strongly persisting negative norms and prejudices towards the older workforce, leading to age discrimination by managers (Tourigny & Pulich, 2006). Indeed, older workers are commonly perceived by HRM as less effective, less flexible and reluctant to change, and therefore less willing to learn about new technologies and work methods (Lyon & Glover, 2008). Furthermore, as a result of these perceptions, the latter group is commonly seen as rather focused on future retirement, instead of present career planning (Hershey et al., 2002). Many retirement arrangements, in turn, contribute to the common image that older workers are no longer considered valuable members of the job market (Bal, Jansen, Van der Velde, De Lange & Rousseau, 2010). Indeed, older employees are likely to exit the labor market within a short time range, therefore overall limiting their time (perceived) until retirement (Kooij et al., 2010). By contrast, younger and middle-aged employees experience less age discrimination in terms of HR practices (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004), and consequently will perceive more remaining professional time ahead. Therefore, older workers will likely see their future time within the professional setting as increasingly limited, compared to their younger counterparts (Zacher & Frese, 2009), leading to the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 2a: Chronological age is negatively associated with remaining time FTP, aging employees perceiving less remaining time in their professional life. Remaining time FTP and OCB People with a shorter remaining time perspective in the workplace are expected to display more OCBs compared to those with a more expansive future ahead, primarily because of a shift in psychosocial priorities. An important theory in the field of organizational psychology is the Socio-Emotional Selectivity Theory (further: S.S.T.) by Carstensen et al. (1999). Its main consideration is that people with shortening perceived future time in life such as aging employees with regard to their careers will tend to reconsider their main goals of social interaction. For example, older workers will shift from knowledge acquisition (e.g., networking ) and searching for personal development (e.g.,, participation in training activities), towards emotion regulation 11

14 strategies and search for social stability (e.g.,, finding recognition and security among strong and meaningful relationships) (Kooij et al., 2010). According to this theory, workers will thus increasingly emphasize socio-emotional goals as they become older. This implies a more intrinsically driven work motivation (Kooij et al., 2010). By contrast, younger people will be primarily motivated by extrinsic motives (e.g., financial compensation and development arrangements) (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004; Ng & Feldman, 2008; Kooij et al., 2010). Therefore, based on S.S.T. (Carstensen et al., 1999), it is expected that people who perceive a limited future time ahead in their (professional) life will increasingly prioritize socio-emotional goals, and thus invest time and effort in building and maintaining solid personal relationships, including those in the work setting. Similarly, Pettit et al. (2004) state that aging people conduct themselves with the purpose of meeting mutual and moral obligations. Therefore, social aspects are expected to become important relational goals for employees whose perception of (professional) future time expires. Because people with a limited future time will thus actively invest in solid and meaningful relationships at work (Cate & John, 2007, Zacher & Frese, 2009), they will likely do so by displaying OCBs towards their co-workers (i.e.,, altruism and courtesy OCB). Indeed, according to Ng & Feldman (2010), S.S.T. (Carstensen et al., 1999) is particularly useful for understanding the relation between occupational future time perspective and work-related motives that could lead to OCB. Furthermore, as people age, they will have greater control over negative emotions in everyday life (Carstensen et al., 1999), and will thus increasingly tend to avoid emotional reactivity and frustrations when dealing with interpersonal conflicts (Löckenhoff & Carstensen, 2004). Therefore, people with a less expansive remaining time FTP will tend to focus on the positive side of experiences, and consequently play down the negative aspects, as a result of better emotion regulation strategies (Carstensen et al., 1999; Diefendorff, Brown, Kamin & Lord, 2002; Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004). Consequently, the idea of the present employer being the final one in an employee s professional life will lead to more positive views towards the organization, keeping in mind the upcoming retirement (Carstensen et al., 1999). Employees perceiving less remaining time FTP will thus increasingly appreciate and enhance the positive sides of both their work and their organization (Zacher & Frese, 2009), will complain less, and therefore display more sportsmanship OCB. 12

15 In addition, people with a more limited professional time perspective can be expected to be more conscientious in their work (attendance), either because of their loss-regulating motives (Carstensen et al., 1999), and/or their career maintenance strategies (Zacher & Frese, 2011) ), leading to increased conscientiousness OCB. Indeed, being less likely to find a (good) job elsewhere, people with a sense of time running out will be inclined to stick to the rules because of increased continuance commitment to their present organization (Mayer & Schoorman, 1998). Finally, following the earlier outlined motives of generativity (Mor-Barak, 1995), people whose professional time is running out will be increasingly focused on saving their expertise as their personal professional heritage within the organization through transferring their often extensive firm-specific knowledge and practical experience (Morrow & McElroy, 1987) to the people with more time ahead. They will likely do so by participating in meetings regarding the organization s future, an essential component of civic virtue OCB (Organ, 1997). In all, it can thus be expected that employees with a more limited remaining time FTP will tend to display more OCBs, compared to those with a more expansive future time ahead. Consequently, Hypothesis 2b: Remaining time FTP is negatively associated with OCB, employees perceiving less remaining time in their professional life displaying more OCBs. Finally, based on the assumption that age will influence remaining time FTP positively, people perceiving less professional time ahead being expected to display more OCBs, it is expected that remaining time FTP will mediate the positive relation between chronological age and OCB. Concretely, older employees, perceiving less remaining time left in the workplace compared to younger people, are expected to be more inclined to help their co-workers (i.e., altruism OCB), to invest more time and effort in preventing them to encounter problems (i.e., courtesy OCB), to complain less about smaller issues (i.e., sportsmanship OCB), as well as be conscientious and contribute actively to the organization (i.e., civic virtue OCB). Consequently, Hypothesis 2c: Remaining time FTP mediates the positive association between age and OCB, because 1) aging employees will have a shorter remaining time perspective, and 2) the latter perception will increase the likelihood that people will display OCB. 13

16 Remaining opportunities FTP as a mediator between age and OCB However, despite the positive indirect effect of age on OCB expected earlier, the amount of remaining opportunities perceived in the future can alternatively be expected to negatively influence the amount of OCBs specifically directed at the organization (i.e.,, conscientiousness and civic virtue OCBs). Concretely, younger people, through perceiving more remaining professional opportunities ahead, are expected to display more of the latter OCB aspects, compared to older workers with less opportunities left in the workplace. The latter, by contrast, through having a perception of diminished organizational support, are expected to direct less OCBs specifically at the employer. Chronological age and remaining opportunities FTP Firstly, a negative effect of chronological age on remaining opportunities FTP in the workplace is expected, older people perceiving less remaining opportunities than younger people. In practice, the pursuit of organizational adaptability largely excludes older employees from any core membership (Lyon & Glover, 2008), in contrast to younger workers, whose initiative-taking towards learning and development activities is much stronger overall (Van Veldhoven & Dorenbosch, 2008). Indeed, younger employees are more focused on extrinsic values such as knowledge acquisition and future career possibilities, compared to older workers (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004; Van Veldhoven & Dorenbosch, 2008). Further, younger employees are more motivated by the many practices directed at providing financial (e.g., performance-based pay) and development arrangements (e.g., training and career planning) (Van Veldhoven & Dorenbosch, 2008). Moreover, younger people are also more competitively orientated than their older counterparts (Singh & Singh, 2010), in order to secure future promotion opportunities for more highly compensated jobs that offer more autonomy and authority (Carmichael, 1983, as cited in Kooij, de Lange, Jansen & Dikkers, 2007). Since this pro-active attitude towards career development is considered by HRM to be an important quality for modern workforce, younger workers are provided more extensive opportunities for career development, compared to older employees (Maurer, Weiss & Barbeite, 2003; Van Veldhoven & Dorenbosch, 2008). 14

17 By contrast, people s preference for growth and opportunities declines with age (Rhodes, 1983; Kooij et al., 2010), together with their physical and cognitive health conditions (Carstensen et al., 1999), consequently influencing strongly older people s decision to retire early (Higgs et al., 2003, as cited in Kooij et al., 2007). Furthermore, despite governmental policies to discourage early retirement arrangements (Desmette & Gaillard, 2008), the latter are still commonly seen as a feasible alternative for continuing to work, especially by older employees (Kooij et al., 2007). As a result, older workers will perceive less remaining opportunities as they age, and will consequently be more inclined to live towards their retirement. In all, younger employees are expected to perceive more opportunities ahead, compared to their older counterparts. Consequently, Hypothesis 3a: Chronological age is negatively associated with remaining opportunities FTP, younger employees perceiving more remaining opportunities in their professional life compared to older workers. Remaining opportunities FTP and OCBs directed at the organization A positive effect of remaining opportunities FTP on OCBs directed at the organization (OCB) is expected, people perceiving more opportunities ahead in professional life exhibiting more conscientiousness- and civic virtue OCBs, compared to people whose future remaining professional opportunities are running out. Social exchange theory (further: S.E.T.) (Blau, 1964) is the primary theory used to explain OCB (Organ, 1988, as cited in Bommer et al., 2003); Blau (1964) herein made a distinction between social and economic exchange, both of which are considered important for explaining the exchange relationship between an individual and the organization, which is assumed to take place based on reciprocity considerations (Coyle-Shapiro, 2002). Indeed, Organ (1988, as cited in Moorman, 1991) expected that the decision of engaging in extra-role behavior is a function of whether one perceives having been treated well by the organization, therefore defining one s relationship with the employer as one of social exchange. Since OCB is by definition discretionary, and therefore under the personal control of the employee, individuals may choose to engage in extra-role behavior because of their willingness to 15

18 reciprocate the perceived organizational support for providing opportunities in the fulfillment of goals (Moorman, 1993; McFarlane Shore & Wayne, 2003). Similarly, support was found between perceptions of procedural fairness and OCB (Organ, 1988, as cited in Moorman, 1991), between organizational justice and OCB (Moorman, 1991), as well as between job and pay equity and OCB (Scholl, Cooper & McKenna, 1987, as cited in Moorman, 1991). Therefore, a positive relation between the perception of the organization s provision of (career) opportunities and OCB is expected, people perceiving more opportunities ahead being more willing to reciprocate organizational support by means of engaging in OCBs specifically directed at the employer. In addition, according to the economic aspect of S.E.T., people will engage in OCB being motivated by the expectation of receiving future inducements from the other party (Blau, 1964, as cited in Bal & Kooij, 2010), in this case the employer. Considering the fact that managers increasingly take into account employees OCB when deciding about promotions and evaluation ratings (Podsakoff et al., 2000), OCB-displaying employees consequently increase the probability of being rewarded in the future by presently engaging in extra-role behavior (Coyle-Shapiro, 2002). Personal growth motives being found to be more salient for workers with many opportunities ahead (Zacher & Frese, 2009), people perceiving more possibilities in the future will thus invest more effort in being (or, behaving as) an actively involved employee with strong ambitions within the organization, with the aim of increasing their chances for further career advancement. Concretely, workers with good career prospects were previously found to have higher levels of work engagement, leading to significantly higher levels of OCBs directed at the organization, because of the high quality of the relation perceived between employer and employee (Saks, 2006). As a result, people seeing many opportunities ahead are expected to be more engaged in their jobs, and will thus display more OCB specifically directed at the employer (i.e.,, conscientiousness and civic virtue OCBs). Inversely, people who perceive less remaining opportunities left in the workplace will less or not engage in OCBs towards the organization, because of their perceived decreased organizational support (Desmette & Gaillard, 2008), and therefore less need for reciprocating the latter by means of engaging in extra-role behavior towards the organization (Bal & Kooij, 2010). 16

19 In sum, when workers perceive many opportunities left in their professional career, they consequently tend to view their work exchange with the organization as a means to obtain rewards (Bal & Kooij, 2010), and thus tend to engage in OCB. Therefore, a positive effect of the perception of many remaining opportunities FTP and conscientiousness and civic virtue OCBs is expected, based on reciprocity in the context of both social and economic exchange between employee and employer. However, people perceiving less remaining opportunities left will display less of these OCBs. Consequently, Hypothesis 3b: Remaining opportunities FTP is positively associated with OCBs directed at the organization (conscientiousness and civic virtue OCBs), employees perceiving more remaining opportunities in their professional life displaying more of these OCB aspects. Finally, based on the assumption that age will influence remaining opportunities FTP negatively, while people perceiving less professional opportunities ahead are expected to display less conscientiousness and civic virtue OCBs specifically directed at the organization, it is expected that remaining opportunities FTP will mediate the relation between age and the latter OCB aspects. Concretely, older employees, perceiving less remaining professional opportunities left compared to younger people, are expected to be less inclined to display OCBs specifically directed at the organization (i.e.,, conscientiousness and civic virtue OCBs) in return. Therefore, the following mediation hypothesis has been formulated: Hypothesis 3c: Remaining opportunities FTP mediates the negative association between age and OCBs directed at the organization (i.e.,, conscientiousness and civic virtue OCBs), because 1) aging employees will have a less expansive remaining opportunities perspective, and 2) the latter perception will decrease the likelihood that people will display conscientiousness and civic virtue OCBs. 17

20 + Altruism OCB Occupational FTP (Remaining Time) - Courtesy OCB - Employee Age Sportsmanship OCB - Occupational FTP (Remaining Opportunities) + Conscientiousness OCB - Civic Virtue OCB Figure 1: Conceptual Model 18

21 Method Data collection and sample characteristics The study was conducted by sending out an electronic structured questionnaire. This survey further contained other themes researched by two colleagues (e.g., the perception of HR practices, intrinsic motivation and job complexity). For the purpose of minimizing the bias in the latest section(s) of a total of 87 questions, three different versions of the questionnaire have been sent out, with each of our own particular theme being at the beginning of the questionnaire. This tactic proved to be a successful strategy in the end, since 97 respondents failed to fully complete the questionnaire. Indeed, some sections of the questionnaires could still be usable to some extent, despite the total questionnaire being aborted before completion by some respondents. The data have been combined afterwards using SPSS statistical analysis software. For the purpose of reaching respondents working in a large variety of industries, sampling was conducted by using (indirect) contacts from social networks, friends and family. As a result, it has been possible to reach a triple number of respondents via the respective contacts in the field. The initial respondents were asked to give through the questionnaire to as many of their colleagues, in order to get multiple sources from the same organizations. For later analysis purposes and clarity, the respondents were also asked to fill in the name of their current organization, as well as to select the appropriate answer among a large variety of sectors the organization operates in (cf. Dutch questionnaire in Appendix 2). The N of the survey, after elimination of missing data, was 248 respondents. The sample consists of employees working in public (N=111) as well as private-sector organizations (N=137), all based in the Netherlands. The population further included 125 (50.4%) male and 123 (49.6%) female respondents. Despite the light over-representation of women (44.5% in the Dutch labor force (CBS Statline, 2010)), gender does not appear to influence OCB types considerably (cf., correlation matrix, Table 4.1), and is therefore not specifically considered to be a drawback. The mean number of hours per week appointed is 34.4 hours by respondents, which exactly corresponds to the Dutch mean (CBS Statline, 2010). The mean age of the respondents is 37.8 years, including respondents ranging from 20 19

22 to 62 years. This is somewhat lower than the mean age of the Dutch labor force, being 40.3 years (CBS, 2009). The education level descriptive statistics, however, reveal a large overrepresentation of higher-educated employees: 78.6% in the sample, compared to 34.7% in the Dutch population (CBS Statline, 2010). Further, 1.5% of the participants had a high-school qualification, 15.7% an intermediate vocational diploma. People working in the public sector were, unfortunately, also over-represented in the surveyed sample: 44.8%, compared to 33.4% overall (CBS Statline, 2009). These 44.8% mainly include government authorities personnel (33.9%). The private sector participants were employed in the following industries: commercial and financial services (resp. 2.6% and 12.5%), trading, market and commerce (5.6%), media (5.6%), as well as in the agricultural (4.4%), industrial (2.4%) and energy sectors (1.2%). The remaining 2.8% were active in other branches. Concept Operationalization Chronological age Age was conceptualized as a chronological linear variable, operationalized in number of years lived starting at birth, being the common definition of age (Kooij, 2010). Participants were asked to fill in their calendar age as such in the questionnaire. Occupational Future Time Perspective The first scale used to measure Future Time Perspective (FTP) was developed by Carstensen and Lang (1996). The scale used in the present research was adapted by Bal et al. (2010) by adding the occupational aspect of FTP by Zacher and Frese (2009). It consisted of 10 items, which all have to be graded in applicability by the respondents along a 5-stage Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Three items had then to be recoded, as they were reverse-scored, in order to get uniformity in scoring (a higher score consistently referring to a longer time perspective). 20

23 In order to make a distinction between remaining time FTP and remaining opportunities FTP, which was first suggested by Zacher & Frese (2009), the 10-item scale was divided on theoretical grounds, based on items referring to either of both concepts (e.g.,, My future seems infinite for me (rem. time); Many opportunities await me in the future (rem. opp.)). The Principal Components factor analysis, however, did not return the expected pattern between the two components (cf., Appendix 1), presumably because all items originate from one initial concept (Occupational FTP), and thus correlate very highly among each other. Therefore, two distinct PCA s (with Oblimin rotation) were conducted separately for each of the two components (cf., Table 3.1 and 3.2), returning the expected pattern. One item per scale was hereby left out in order to substantially heighten their reliability. This resulted in a final Cronbach s Alpha value of.86 for the 4-item remaining opportunities FTP scale, and of.74 for the 4-item remaining time FTP scale. Both scales therefore have a good reliability (Pallant, 2005). The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy is respectively.71 (remaining time FTP) and.80 (remaining opportunities FTP), and Bartlett s Test of Sphericity was significant in both cases (p<.01). Table 3.1: Factor loadings of remaining time FTP items (PCA) Remaining time FTP My time is running out (rec.).817 My future time seems infinite.783 Many time left for new plans.739 Experience my time as limited (rec.).686 NOTES: The combined PCA of all FTP items is provided in Appendix 1 A translation of the Dutch questionnaire is provided in Appendix 2 Table 3.2: Factor loadings of remaining opportunities FTP items (PCA) Remaining opportunities FTP Many work goals in future.875 Many opportunities in future.861 Many possibilities in future.835 Can do anything wanted in future.788 NOTES: The combined PCA of all FTP items is provided in Appendix 1 A translation of the Dutch questionnaire is provided in Appendix 2 21

24 Organizational Citizenship Behavior The scale used to measure OCB was first developed by Podsakoff et al. (1990), which is also commonly considered as a standard in the OCB literature (Podsakoff et al., 2000). It originally consisted of 24 items, which have to be graded on a 7-stage Likert scale ranging from score 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) and is (very) reliable (Pallant, 2005): its Cronbach s Alpha value as a whole was.88. Furthermore, the individual items are each related to one sub-scale of the five aspects of OCB: altruism, courtesy, sportsmanship, conscientiousness and civic virtue (Podsakoff et al., 1990). This initial scale was developed for supervisor rating of employee behavior, but the scale used here has been adapted for individual self-rating by employees themselves. Subsequently, a confirmatory factor analysis with Oblimin-rotation was conducted, in order to test the component loadings in the present context. The pattern matrix indicated that 3 items did not load properly on the expected OCB scales. The following items were therefore deleted: Attendance to work is above the norm (referring to conscientiousness OCB), Does not abuse the rights of others (courtesy OCB), Is the classic squeeky wheel that always needs greasing (sportsmanship OCB). This means 21 items were left to measure employees OCB (cf., Table 3.3). The Cronbach s Alpha coefficients of the respective (final) scales are as follows: altruism:.89 (5 items, e.g., Is always ready to lend a helping hand to those around him / her), courtesy:.76 (4 items, e.g., Considers the impact of his / her actions on co-workers), sportsmanship:.79 (4 items, e.g., Consumes a lot of time complaining about trivial matters reverse-coded ), conscientiousness:.71 (4 items, e.g., Does not take extra breaks), civic virtue:.86 (4 items, e.g., Attends functions that are not requires, but help the company image). Since all Cronbach s Alpha values are above.7, all five remaining OCB scales have a high reliability (Pallant, 2005). The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) index of sampling adequacy is.87, and Bartlett s Test of Sphericity was significant (p<.01). Factor loadings of all items on their respective 5 components are provided in Table

25 Table 3.3: Factor loadings of OCB items (PCA) Ready to lend a helping hand Help others with heavy workload Help co-workers with problems Help co-workers having been absent Help newcomers Complain about trivial issues Make mountains of molehills Focus on what s wrong Always find fault with org. functioning Attend functions favorable to org. image Keep up with org. announcements Keep up with org. developments Attend meetings on org. future Obey company rules and regulations Take no extra breaks One of most conscientious employees An honest day s pay for an honest day s work Primarily discuss action with co-workers Prevent creating problems for co-workers Prevent problems with co-workers Aware of consequence of actions on others NOTES: 1: Altruism; 2: Sportsmanship; 3: Civic Virtue; 4: Conscientiousness; 5: Courtesy A translation of the Dutch questionnaire items is provided in Appendix 2 Control variables The control variables used in this research are the following: education level (highest completed Dutch education, along 7 categories), self-rated health (on a 5-stage Likert scale, ranging from 1 (very bad) to 5 (very good), the weekly appointment per week, gender (male / female) and finally the organization s sector (public / private). The latter two were recoded into dummy variables, in order to incorporate the variable into the regression analyses, the reference categories (coded 0) being respectively male respondents and the public sector. Finally, organizational tenure (in years) was included. Ng and Feldman (2008; 2010) concluded that longer tenured employees have particularly positive job attitudes towards both their organization and co-workers, compared to workers being relatively new to the organization. Organizational tenure is therefore an essential control variable to be included in the present analysis, in order to isolate the effects of age and occupational FTP from spuriousness via organizational tenure (since tenure is itself positively related to age). 23

26 Statistical analysis procedure Preliminary analyses First, the assumption of normality of the different variables was assessed with a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The results indicate that the assumption was violated across all distributions (P <.01). This obliqueness can be due to sample size, but however does not have to be detrimental in case of a reasonable sample size (Pallant, 2005), which is the case in the present research. Nevertheless, the normal Q-Q plots also indicate that different distributions are (severely) skewed, e.g., in the case of education level, a limitation of this sample which has already been assessed earlier in this chapter. Also noteworthy is the skewed distribution of organizational tenure the vast majority of the respondents having a tenure of less than 12 years within the present organization. Also, respondents tend to answer rather positively to the different OCB facets, as visible in the skewed distributions of the different OCB components. This might be caused by social desirability with respect to the expected positive behavior (Baker, 1999) as a growing social norm in work contexts (Salami, 2008). However, as shown in the correlation matrix (Table 4.1), no correlation exceeds.7, which implies that the variables are reasonably independent from each other (Pallant, 2005), even in the case of chronological age and both occupational FTP facets, which ultimately are all different facets of age. However, it has been chosen to conduct the different regression analyses independently from each other for the two dimensions of occupational FTP, in order to eliminate any overlap of effects. Furthermore, four of the five OCB components logically showed a high correlation between each other (>.7 minimum), with the exception of sportsmanship OCB. Therefore, there has been controlled for the other four OCB aspects when regressing each OCB component on age and occupational FTP aspects. Hierarchical multiple regression During the analysis, OCB has been divided into the five components as distinguished by Podsakoff et al. (1990): altruism-, courtesy-, sportsmanship-, conscientiousness- and civic virtue OCBs were measured using the scales described earlier. These OCB types were all analyzed independently in order to draw conclusions on their relation to age and occupational 24

27 FTP, as well as to the various control variables. The method used to conduct the statistical analyses in SPSS was hierarchical multiple regression. The central factors in this research are the two hypothesized mediation effects (chronological age on altruism, courtesy, sportsmanship, conscientiousness and civic virtue OCBs via remaining time- and remaining opportunities FTP). These mediations have furthermore been tested on statistical significance using Sobel s test. The regression analyses were conducted in the following order: - Firstly, the mediators, remaining time- and remaining opportunities FTP were regressed on the independent variable (chronological age), testing hypotheses 2a and 3a. Control variables (gender, education level, health, weekly appointment, sector and organizational tenure) were included in the regression. - Secondly, all control variables (gender, education level, health, weekly appointment, sector and organizational tenure) were regressed on the dependent variables (altruism, courtesy, sportsmanship, conscientiousness and civic virtue OCBs) (Model 1); - Thirdly, the dependent variables (altruism, courtesy, sportsmanship, conscientiousness and civic virtue OCBs) were regressed on the independent variable chronological age, testing hypotheses 1a and 1b. Control variables (gender, education level, health, weekly appointment, sector, organizational tenure and the 4 other OCB aspects) were included in the regression (Model 2); - Fourthly, the dependent variables (altruism-, courtesy-, sportsmanship-, conscientiousness- and civic virtue OCBs) were regressed on the first mediator variable remaining time FTP, testing hypothesis 2b and mediation-hypothesis 2c. Control variables (gender, education level, health, weekly appointment, sector, organizational tenure and the 4 other OCB aspects) were included in the regression (Model 3); - Fifthly, the dependent variables conscientiousness- and civic virtue OCB were regressed on the second mediator variable remaining opportunities FTP, testing hypothesis 3b and mediation-hypothesis 3c. Control variables (gender, education level, health, weekly appointment, sector, organizational tenure and the 4 other OCB aspects) were included in the regression (Model 4). 25