Disappointed but still dedicated: when and why career dissatisfied employees might still go beyond the call of duty

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine how employees' experience of career dissatisfaction might curtail their organizational citizenship behavior, as well as how this detrimental effect might be mitigated by employees' access to valuable peer-, supervisor- and organizational-level resources. The frustrations stemming from a dissatisfactory career might be better contained in the presence of these resources, such that employees are less likely to respond to this resource-depleting work circumstance by staying away from extra-role activities.Design/methodology/approachThe research hypotheses were tested with survey data collected from employees who work in the retail sector.FindingsCareer dissatisfaction relates negatively to organizational citizenship behaviors, and this relationship is weaker at higher levels of peer goal congruence, supervisor communication efficiency and organization-level informational justice.Practical implicationsFor organizations that cannot completely eradicate their employees' career-related disappointment, this study shows that they can still maintain a certain level of work-related voluntarism, to the extent that they develop and hone valuable resources internally.Originality/valueThis study adds to extant research by detailing the contingent effects of a hitherto understudied determinant of employees' extra-role work behavior, namely, perceptions of limited career progress.

Leader–member exchange, work–family enrichment and their effects on mental health: the moderating role of remote e-work

“…To check common method variance, Harman's single-factor test was performed using an unrotated exploratory factor analysis (De Clercq and Belausteguigoitia, 2020). The first factor explained only 28.9% of the total variance.…”

Pandemic fears, family interference with work, and organizational citizenship behavior: Buffering role of work‐related goal congruence

“…To assess the extent to which employees undertook voluntary work efforts, we applied a four‐item scale of OCB (De Clercq & Belausteguigoitia, 2021; De Cremer et al, 2009). Two example items were “I undertake voluntary action to protect the organization from potential problems” and “If necessary, I am prepared to work overtime” (Cronbach's alpha = 0.89).…”

Dedicated despite disappointment

“…Unmotivated and dissatisfied employees may engage in negative gossip, dysfunctional game playing and interpersonal conflict among other behaviors. The study by De Clercq and Belausteguigoitia (2021) focused on employee dissatisfaction which might relate to issues of promotion, skill development or material goals and how this might or might not impact on employee motivation and performance.…”