조직시민행동이 수행자에게 미치는 부정적 효과 : 공군조종사 조직에서의 실증연구

During the last decades, a great number of studies in organizational sociology, psychology, business management have investigated the concept and types of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) as well as its antecedents and consequences. About the consequences alone, voluminous studies examined and reported positive contributions by OCB in enhancing organizational effectiveness in a variety of aspects. However, the negative side of OCB has not been much revealed relatively to the positive one. Although OCB is not part of in-role behavior that is expected to an individual in relation to his/her job in an organization, it will also increase the level of sickness and tiredness sensed by the individual when he/she somehow feels overloaded while performing various types of OCB. For example, assuming extra-role tasks on behalf of absent colleagues may not happen so willingly all the time. The authors are concerned about the possibility that constructive expectations from OCB encouraged and taken place in the organization-wide atmosphere can easily be offset by destructive effects to the individual actor of OCB. Thus, the current study intends to focus on the negative effects of OCB on the actors. OCB can convey additional importance in such organizations as air forces where mutual trust and cooperation among members play a more critical role than in other types of organizations. This study examines the negative effects of OCB among the pilots in the Republic of Korea Air Force. OCB research on military organizations has often been conducted in the Western hemisphere as well. First, we look at the relationship between OCB performed by an individual and burnout felt by him (our respondents are all male pilots). Even though OCB is a kind of behavior not supposed to be forced by any authority or hierarchy, performing OCB may need extended efforts or work-hours from the viewpoint of the focal actor. Based on the previous literature, we introduce two dimensions of burnout, and hypothesize that OCB will increase the level of exhaustion and disengagement, respectively. Second, we further move forward to the possibility that OCB can have devastating results to the individuals’ life in the end. Prior studies noticed that, given the limited resources in terms of time and efforts available to a person, performing OCB can be a sacrifice and deter an individual’s promotion and/or salary increase. Such a potential damage to the personal career outcome implies the chance for OCB to eventually increase the level of emotional dissatisfaction sensed by individuals. In this study, the concept of dissatisfaction with the organization incorporates two dimensions: intention-to-leave and work-family conflict. Thus, our second set of hypotheses predicts that OCB will increase the level of intention-to-leave and work-family conflict, respectively. Third, we pay attention to the role of cognitive dissonance as a moderator in the relationship between OCB and its outcome in the individual level. Cognitive dissonance is the feeling of uncomfortable tension which comes from holding two conflicting thoughts in one’s mind at the same time. It occurs when a person perceives a logical inconsistency in his/her beliefs, when one idea implies the opposite of another. Such cognitive dissonance can take place when an actor experiences unfairness within the organization and distrust in his/her bosses. For example, a belief in the fairness of the organization is inconsistent with unacceptable performance evaluation and subsequent compensation. Truly, one of the characteristics of OCB includes that it is discretionary, i.e., it is not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system. Although OCB stems from such a voluntary motive, people may often expect a positive, though indirect, reward to himself/herself someday in the future. At least, they may consciously or unconsciously feel satisfied and comfortable with a belief that OCB will be regarded as a factor promoting the efficient and effective functioning of the organization. However, when an individual experiences and recognizes cognitive dissonance in terms of organizational fairness and/or justice, his/her motivation toward voluntary citizenship could be adversely affected. Accordingly, we hypothesize that recognition of organizational unfairness and distrust in one’s boss will further augment the level of burnout (exhaustion and disengagement) felt by the individual. Our last set of hypotheses extends the above argument to the negative effects on the level of satisfaction felt by organizational members. Here, cognitive dissonance is suspected to moderate the relationship between OCB and intention-to-leave and work-family conflict, respectively. As OCB is typically performed in an implicit expectation on its positive influence on the actor’s organizational life, cognitive dissonance may drastically deepen physical and mental sickness and tiredness felt by him/her. Thus, we predict that recognition of organizational unfairness and distrust in one’s boss will strengthen the negative impact of OCB on the level of dissatisfaction (intention-to-leave and work-family conflict) by individuals within the organization. Our empirical tests are based on a survey of 230 pilots currently belonged to the Air Force of the Republic of Korea. A total of 205 questionnaires were collected to be filtered to 182 usable ones. Our sample consists of well-balanced respondents in terms of rank, experience, age, and organizational tenure. Employing influential scholars’ recommendations that empirical research of OCB should be based on measurements reflecting social and organizational context, we developed a questionnaire incorporating five dimensions of OCB relevant to the Korean and Air Force backdrop: altruistic, conscientious, loyal, relational, and self-disciplinary behaviors. After factor analyses, we collapsed the above five dimensions to three: altruistic, conscientious, and organization-oriented (an integration of loyal and relational) while self-disciplinary was excluded. We have two sets of dependent variables. Burnout was measure by the level of exhaustion and disengagement. Dissatisfaction with the organization was measured by the level of intention-to-leave as well as that of work-family conflict. Cognitive dissonance, the moderating variable, was measured by two sub-concepts, i.e., recognition of organizational unfairness and distrust in the boss. We also examined the influence of various control variables including emotional stability and workload (quantitative and qualitative) of a respondent. Demographic characteristics such as rank, experience, age, and organizational tenure were also included in the empirical models. Results from multiple regression analyses show that OCB itself does not increase the level of burnout or dissatisfaction felt by an individual, rejecting our hypotheses. Even contrary to our predictions, OCB decreases the level of disengagement and intention-to-leave. However, our models with cognitive dissonance as a moderator show that OCB leads to swelling burnout felt by the actor under situations of cognitive dissonance. Interactions between OCB and organizational fairness and justice, respectively, deepen the level of burnout in all models with different variables representing sub-concepts. A higher level of organizational citizenship behaviors under situations of cognitive dissonance also increases the level of frustration represented by the intention to resign and work-family conflict. In sum, our results largely support the hypotheses that an actor’s burnout and dissatisfaction will surge up when he/she experiences cognitive dissonance. The results imply that potential adverse outcomes of OCB in the individual perspective may not be that serious as far as the actor perceives consistence between what he/she believes and expects and what he/she observes and experiences with the organization. However, when such beliefs and expectations are not met in the process of performance evaluation or bosses’ recognition, OCB may well be a factor that increases the actor’s burnout and dissatisfaction. Therefore, managers need to pay careful attention to such contingency factors that affect the outcome of OCB from the viewpoint of individual actors before naively expecting its positive effects to come true.