If you're close with the leader, you must be a brownnose: The role of leader-member relationships in follower, leader, and coworker attributions of organizational citizenship behavior motives

Although scholars have recognized that organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) can be attributed to either self-serving or other-serving motives, little research has addressed the conditions under which different observers will make positive versus negative attributions for OCB. We draw on leader-member exchange (LMX) and attribution theories to propose that high-quality LMX relationships are associated with positive attributions of OCB motives by the follower and the leader but negative attributions of OCB motives by coworkers. We theorize that while high-quality LMX relationships are associated with attributions of pro-social and organizational concern motives by the follower and the leader, coworkers view OCB performed by those in high-quality LMX relationships as driven by impression management motives. We discuss implications for theory and research on OCB and LMX. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.