The impact of group formation and perceptions of fairness on organizational citizenship behaviors

An experimental design was used to assess the impact of group formation and perceptions of fairness on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Several mediators were also considered. First, when groups were established, social comparison and competition among those groups was expected to reduce the number of OCBs that would occur between the groups. Second, perceptions of unfair procedures were expected to result in negative affective and cognitive reactions, which would also decrease OCBs. It was also hypothesized that group formation and perceptions of fairness would interact to more strongly affect OCBs. Results indicated that group formation had a substantial impact on the frequency of OCBs, and that social competition was a significant mediator of that relationship. On the other hand. this study found little evidence for the negative impact of unjust procedures on OCBs. The interaction between group formation and unjust procedures was not significant. Implications for organizations are discussed.