Organizational citizenship behaviors as a function of empathy, consideration of future consequences, and employee time horizon: An initial exploration using an in-basket simulation of OCBs

We hypothesized that organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) represent a social dilemma. Two studies supported this hypothesis, In Study 1, participants rated OCBs as costly to an employee in the short run, and beneficial to an organization in the long run. In Study 2, likelihood of engaging in OCBs was higher among those high in empathy and concern with future consequences; and less likely among those instructed to imagine they would be leaving the company in 3 months for another job. Empathy showed a stronger relationship with OCBs when respondents imagined they would soon leave an organization and that individuals high in concern with future consequences were less likely to engage in OCBs when faced with a short-term time horizon. © 2006 Blackwell Publishing, Inc.