Relationship between job characteristics and organizational citizenship behavior: The mediational role of job satisfaction

Despite the numerous studies on the antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), relatively few researchers have examined the effects of job characteristics on OCB. Our aims in this study were to investigate the relationship between job characteristics and OCB and to clarify the mediating effects of job satisfaction in 270 employees from 24 electronic companies. The results showed that job variety and job significance had a significant positive relationship with OCB, whereas job identity, job autonomy, job feedback, and job interdependence were not significantly related to OCB. Furthermore, job satisfaction, especially intrinsic satisfaction, was a mediating mechanism of the relationship between job variety, job significance, and OCB. Finally, extrinsic satisfaction did not mediate the relationship between job characteristics and OCB. This suggests that practicing managers should enrich job characteristics and place greater emphasis on enhancing employees’ intrinsic satisfaction to promote employees’ OCB.