The two 'faces' of continuance commitment

International journal of the academy of Organizational behavior management (IJAOBM)

IAOBM

Editor in Chief

Dr. Mohammad Ali Sarlak

Associate Editors

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Alan Smith, Robert Morris University, United StatesAndrew Creed, Deakin University, Australia
Anna Maria Gil Lafuente, University of Barcelona, Spain
Anthony Libertella, Adelphi University, United States
Chunhui Liu, University of Winnipeg, Canada
Constantin Bratianu, Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest, Romania
Eric Otenyo, Northern Arizona University, United States
Farley Nobre, Federal University of Parana, Brazil
Flora Bernardel, University of Padova, Italy
Irina Purcarea, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
Jaime Rivera-Camino, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid , Spain
Jan Kratzer, Technical University Berlin ,Germany
João Ferreira, University of Beira Interior, Portugal
Jonathan Matusitz ,University of Central Florida, United States
Jose M. Merigo ,University of Barcelona, Spain
LILIANA FARIA ,ISLA CAMPUS LISBOA - LAUREATE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITIES, Portugal
Luiz Sakuda , Centro Universitário da FEI, Brazil
Mahmud Akhter Shareef, McMaster University, Canada
Maria Rosita Cagnina, University of Udine, Italy
Matthew Irvin, Eastern Kentucky University, United States
Patrizia Garengo, University of Padua, Italy
Ruppa Thulasiram, University of Manitoba, Canada
Simon Samwel Msanjila , Mzumbe University, Tanzania
Susan Kruml, Millikin University, United States
Theodor Valentin Purcarea, Romanian-American University, Romania
Thierry Rakotobe-Joel , Ramapo College of New Jersey , United States
Tomislav Hernaus, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Tsan-Ming Choi , The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
VÍCTOR JESÚS GARCÍA MORALES, UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA, Spain
Vitor Braga, Porto Polytechnic - School of Technology and Management of Felgueiras, Portugal
Xi Zhang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
YANNIS MARKOVITS, National Centre of Public Administration and Local Government, Greece

Editorial Review Board

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Adebimpe Lincoln, Cardiff Metropolitan University, USA
Aminu Mamman, University of Manchester, USA
Ana Aleksic, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business Zagreb, Croatia
Angilberto Freitas, Unigranrio University, Brazil
Antonia Mercedes García-Cabrera , Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Arto Ojala, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Carla Marques, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
CRISTINA ESTEVÃO, School of Management of Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal
Daniel Pittino, Italy
CRISTINA Raluca POPESCU,University of Bucharest, Romania
Dario Miocevic, University of Split/Faculty of Economics, Croatia
David Rooney, The University of Queensland, Australia
Davood Askarany, University of Auckland, Bahrain
Fernanda Nogueira, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal
Helga Rippen, Westat ,USA
Irena Jindrichovska, Prague University of Economics and Management, Czech Republic
Jen-te YANG ,National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism ,Taiwan
Joseph Sungau, Mzumbe University, Tanzania
Júlio Abrantes, Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Portugal
Jürgen Donhauser, Comenius University Bratislava ,Germany
Justine Mbukwa, Mzumbe University, Tanzania
K. Övgü Çakmak-OtluoÄŸlu, Istanbul University, Turkey
Maria Nieves Perez Arostegui, University of Granada, Spain
María Teresa Bolívar-Ramos, University of Granada, Spain
Mayumi tabat, National Dong Hwa University, Japan
Olli-Pekka Viinamäki , University of Vaasa, Finland
Pilar Piñeiro García, University of Vigo, Spain
Prasenjit Chatterjee, MCKV Institute of Engineering, India
Priscila Alfaro-Barrantes, Florida State University, United States
RAMANJEET SINGH, India
Roberta Cuel, University of Trento, Italy
Rodrigo Martin-Rojas, Leon University, Spain
Rupsa Chatterjee, calcutta University, India
Ryh-song Yeh , Yuan Ze University, Taiwan
Sara Nunes, Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Portugal
Shrimatee Dowd-Koniecki, USA
Sonia M. Suárez-Ortega, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Timothy Kellison, The Florida State University, USA
Tracy Cooper, University of South Florida, USA
Viktoriia Potishuk, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
Wen-Chung Shih ,Asia University, Taiwan
Yong Liu , Tianjin University, China

International journal of the academy of Organizational behavior management (IJAOBM)
IAOBM
Issue 3(Oct-Dec 2012)

Table of Contents

1

THE IMPACT OF TEAM AUTONOMY ON ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
OF JAPANESE CARE WORKERS WITH AN EMPHASIS ON MEDIATING ROLE
OF PERCEIVED PROCEDURAL JUSTICE
IKUSHI YAMAGUCHI, Meiji University, Japan
MAI YAMAGUCHI, Japan Lutheran College and Graduate school, japan

33

EXPLORING THE BEHAVIORAL NATURE OF CSR IN DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES: THE CASE OF COMPANY RESPONSES TO HIV AND AIDS IN
MALAWI
RHODA BAKUWA , University of Malawi, Malawi
ERIC SANKHULANI, University of Malawi, Malawi

62

THE TWO ‘FACES’ OF CONTINUANCE COMMITMENT: THE MODERATING
ROLE OF JOB SATISFACTION ON THE CONTINUANCE COMMITMENT –
ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR RELATIONSHIP
YANNIS MARKOVITS , 1 Regional Institute of Education of Thessaloniki , Greece

83

GAINING BEHAVIOR KNOWLEDGE IN THE ONLINE LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT: AN EXPLORATORY CASE STUDY
MICHELLE L. ROSSER, University of Oklahoma, USA
ROBERT M. NELSON , University of Central Oklahoma, USA

123

INFLUENCE OF SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AND PERSONALITY ON
CAREER EXPLORATION: STUDY WITH PORTUGUESE STUDENTS
LILIANA FARIA, Laureate International Universities , Portugal
MARIA DO CéU TAVEIRA, University of Minho, Portugal

150

THE EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE ON POLITICAL
BEHAVIORS
MOHAMMAD ALI SARLAK, PNU, IRAN
HOSEIN SAFARZADEH, Islamic Azad University, IRAN
MAHDI SAADAT FARD, Islamic Azad University, IRAN

This is one paper of
International journal of the academy of Organizational behavior management
(IJAOBM)
Issue 3(Oct-Dec 2012)

International journal of the academy of Organizational behavior management (IJAOBM), 3(2012) 62-82

The two ‘faces’ of continuance commitment:
The moderating role of job satisfaction on the continuance commitment – organizational
citizenship behavior relationship
Yannis Markovits 1, 2
1

2

Regional Institute of Education of Thessaloniki, National Centre of Public Administration and Local
Government, Greece

Department of Accounting, School of Business and Economics, Alexander’s Technological Educational
Institute of Thessaloniki, Greece,
Nik. PLastira 66B, Thessaloniki, GR-542 50
markovii@cyta.gr

Abstract
Problem statement: The purpose of this study is to explore the role of job satisfaction to the
continuance commitment – organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) relationship. In particular to
examine satisfaction’s mediating role by pointing out that the two ‘faces’ of continuance commitment
make very specific predictions: those with the ‘happy face’ (the highly satisfied) will show more OCBs the
more they realize that they have a lot to lose if the leave the organization; and those with the ‘unhappy
face’ (the less satisfied) will show less OCB the more they realize how ‘stuck’ to the organization they
are. Methodology: A structured questionnaire was delivered to employees measuring continuance
commitment, job satisfaction, OCB, positive/negative affectivity and demographics to 392 public sector
and 323 private sector employees in Greece. Results: The hierarchical regression analyses show that
there is a significant interactive effect among continuance commitment – job satisfaction – OCB for both
sectors (private and public). Also, employees with low job satisfaction the regression of OCB frequency
on continuance commitment are significantly different from zero, and for employees with high job
satisfaction the regression slopes indicate significant differences from zero both for continuance
commitment. Conclusions: These results explain the effect of a satisfied or dissatisfied worker on the
relationship between the more calculative forms of commitment on the intended behavior at work,
especially the extra-role behavior. The “Good Soldier” syndrome seems to be evident when a worker is
happy with the job, even if the decision to stay with the organization is due to the need for the particular
job (either due to lack of alternatives or due to high sacrifices). If management wants employees with
OCBs, then job satisfaction is essential for this occurrence.

Keywords:
Continuance commitment, Job satisfaction, Organizational citizenship behaviors, Moderating effect

62
1927-565X (Print) - ISSN 1927-5668 (Online) -, Copyright IAOBM 2013


Introduction
Job satisfaction “is an attitudinal variable … [and] can be considered as a global feeling
about the job or as a related constellation of attitudes about various aspects or facets of the job”
[Spector, 1997, p. 2]. It could be considered as “an affective … reaction to a job that results from
the incumbent’s comparison of actual outcomes with those that are desired … [Cranny et al.,
1992, p. 1], or as an “affective response by individuals resulting from an appraisal of their work
roles in the job that they presently hold” [Graham & Messner, 1998]. In general, job satisfaction
has been seen in the relevant literature, as an affective or emotional attitude of an individual
towards his or her job [James & Jones, 1980] or as a general attitude towards a job and some
particular aspects of it, e.g., nature of work, relations with co-workers, etc [Knoop, 1995]. The
position taken in the present paper is that job satisfaction is composed of two facets relating to
the extrinsic and intrinsic features of a job [Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005]. Extrinsic
satisfaction is the satisfaction derived from extrinsic circumstances, for example, remuneration,
management policies, physical conditions, or job security. Intrinsic satisfaction is the
individually felt satisfaction arising out of opportunities for achievement, creativity, personal
advancement, etc.
Organizational commitment is a multi-component construct which describes individuals’
feelings of attachment to their organization. For the needs of this research we have used one of
the components conceptualized by Allen and Meyer’s [1990]: continuance commitment.
Continuance commitment is more of a calculative form derived from the individual’s ongoing
investment in the organization and the availability of alternative employment of similar value
[Dunham et al., 1994]; the employee ‘needs to be’ to the organization. Recently, continuance
commitment has been further divided into two distinguishable categories: one is called high
sacrifices – (i.e., the perceived sacrifices associated with leaving from an organization) and the
other low alternatives – (i.e., the lack of alternative employment opportunities) [McGee & Ford,
1987; Meyer et al., 1990; Dunham et al., 1994; Meyer et al., 2002; Powell & Meyer, 2004;
Bentein et al., 2005].
The concept of Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is firstly introduced in the mid
1980s by Organ [1988] and is the “individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or
explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the
63


effective functioning of the organization”. Later, Van Dyne et al. [1994] proposed the “extra-role
behavior” as the behavior which benefits the organization and is intended to benefit the
organization; a behavior which is discretionary and which goes beyond existing role
expectations. Also, OCB defined as behavior that goes beyond the basic requirements of the job;
is to a large extent discretionary; and is of benefit to the organization [Lambert, 2006]. Thus,
organizational citizenship is the functional, extra-role, pro-social organizational behavior
directed at individual, groups and/or an organization. These are helping behaviors not formally
prescribed by the organization and for which there are no direct rewards or punishments. From
the above argument, there should be excluded those pro-social behaviors that are prescribed by
the organization as performance requirements, and dysfunctional or non-compliant behaviors
[Chien, 2004].

1. Review of literature and hypothesis
1.1 Antecedents and correlates of organizational citizenship behaviors
Bolon [1997] conducted a field study in a large tertiary hospital in the US and 202 mainly
nursing personnel participated in the study. He found that job satisfaction and organizational
commitment were significantly correlated to the OCBI construct - these behaviors are directed
toward individuals and comprising of altruism and courtesy as suggested by Williams and
Anderson [1991]. As far as the forms of commitment are concerned, continuance commitment
was unrelated to this part of the construct that the citizenship behavior is aimed towards coworker. Another study conducted on government employees in Kuwait [Alotaibi, 2001] found
that neither job satisfaction nor organizational commitment could be considered as antecedents
or as predictors of OCBs. The researcher explained this finding on cultural specificity, since
almost all previous studies were conducted in a Western or American cultural context, whereas,
this study was in a Near Eastern, Arabic cultural environment. However, another non-Western
study, this time conducted in the Sultanate of Oman [Kuehn & Al-Busaidi, 2002] on data
collected from 153 employees working in the private and public sector, reached the conclusion
that job satisfaction and normative commitment were significant predictors of OCB. It seems,
that even though both previous studies conducted in an Arabic cultural environment, their
64


contradictory conclusions reached, make them more culturally specific and less generalizable.
Furthermore, LePine et al. [2002] conducted a meta-analysis on OCB literature and research, and
found strong support for the predictor relationship of job satisfaction and organizational
commitment to various OCB measures and constructs. Similar conclusions reached by
Herscovitch and Meyer [2002] found that OCB is a consequence of the existence of
organizational commitment. As it could be seen, results on the relationship between job-related
attitudes and contextual performance are mixed; however, recent meta-analyses have shown that,
by and large, job satisfaction and organizational commitment could be regarded as predictors of
the OCBs, irrespective of the measurement scales adopted. More specifically, although various
different measures and constructs are used for the measurement of OCBs, different studies found
that organizational commitment predicts or correlates with OCBs [cf. Williams & Anderson,
1991; McFarlane Shore & Wayne, 1993; Schappe, 1998]. As far as the predictive relationship of
continuance commitment to OCB, it has been observed that the individual self-concept
moderates the relationship between continuance commitment and individually based OCBs.
According to Johnson and Chang [2006, p. 564] “employees with strong individual self-concepts
pay more attention to person-level information, such as investments and potential economic
losses. These employees would likely cultivate continuance commitment based on compliance,
which involves maintaining membership so long as it prevents the loss of valued investments and
no alternative employment opportunities exist that are more favorable”.

1.2 The moderating relationship
The above argument, leads to a general proposition that there is a moderating relationship between
continuance commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB, i.e., job satisfaction works as moderator of the
predictive relationship between continuance commitment and OCB. Summarizing, the insofar
theorizing, continuance commitment predicts extra-role performance since an individual who feels
committed towards the organization, feels identified with the goals, norms, and values of this
organization, is loyal to management directives and policies pursued and express a tendency to
remain in the organization. By expressing these positive feelings to the organization, the job
performance is not only the expected one, the focal performance, but even more, performance
exceeds what is required by management and is showed through altruism, sportsmanship, courtesy,
65


boosterism, etc. In other words, OCBs are exposed by the individual. However, continuance
commitment is a driving force that leads to positive feelings towards one’s job, i.e., the expression of
job satisfaction. The individual perceives the job as part of his or her broad organizational
membership and acts accordingly, i.e., performs well at work and even more, behaves as a ‘good
soldier’. The proposition made in this study is that continuance commitment explains OCBs, but this
relationship is moderated by job satisfaction. Following, the above argument, the major question is:
which forms of continuance commitment manage to predict extra-role behaviors? Continuance
commitment is the calculative form derived from the individual’s ongoing investment in the
organization and the availability of alternative employment of similar value. Thus, this form of
commitment implies that the employee makes a rational evaluation or choice of his/her stay in the
organization; the individual measures the side bets of the decision.
Employees, according to the theory of Perceived Organizational Support (POS), tend to
personify the conditions faced during employment and reciprocate this with respect to felt
commitment. In fact, POS would create a felt obligation to care about the organization and
employees will fulfill this type of indebtedness by increasing their commitment and efforts
[Rhoades et al., 2001, p. 825]. This reciprocity norm is also evident on job satisfaction, since
employees by being satisfied with their job, they exhibit positive performance at work [Haar &
Spell, 2004]. Moreover, the Social Exchange Theory (SET) has the ability to predict positive
HRM initiatives, including employee commitment, employee motivation and a desire to remain
with the organization. Gould-Williams and Davies [2005] found in the UK public sector,
specifically in seven local government departments that 58% of the variation in employee
commitment is predicted, 53% variation in motivation and 41% of the variance in the desire to
remain with the organization. In fact, according to the SET, the stronger the relationship of the
individual with the organization, the more the identification, attachment and involvement felt
[Van Knippenberg et al., 2007].

1.3 Hypothesis
As it could be seen from the aforementioned literature review continuance commitment seems to
have weak correlations with positive outcomes such as OCB. However, this finding might
66


depend on the ‘nature’ of continuance commitment, i.e., whether commitment is due to low
alternatives and or due to high sacrifices. The one ‘face’ of continuance commitment shows that
people are happy where they are, although they have low alternatives and sacrifice many things
if they would leave their organization. These employees are not ‘stuck’ to the organization, but
they are happy workers who also realize that their organization provides benefits to them - those
ones that they would sacrifice if they decide to leave the organization. On the other hand, the
other ‘face’ of continuance commitment would be that people are unhappy but they have no
alternatives and would sacrifice a lot. Those are the ones that are really ‘stuck’ with their
organization. These two ‘faces’ of continuance commitment would allow making very specific
predictions about the relationships between continuance commitment and OCB: those with the
‘happy face’, i.e., the highly satisfied would show the more OCB the more they realize that they
have a lot to lose; whereas those with the unhappy face would show even less OCB the more
they realize how ‘stuck’ they are.
The main purpose of our research, therefore, is to collect more empirical evidence for the
importance and nature of interactive attitudinal effects to explain organizational citizenship
behaviors in organizations. More specifically, our research was designed to extend this basic
approach by analyzing a combination of work attitudes that differs from the attitudes prior
research has focused on, namely job satisfaction and continuance commitment. Job satisfaction
represents the ‘situational variable’ and continuance commitment represents ‘personality’ in our
reasoning. Accordingly, it can be expected that both variables interact. If job satisfaction is low
(representing a weak situation), then one’s continuance commitment should have a significant
negative impact on OCB. However, if job satisfaction is high such a strong situation will
overwhelm any continuance commitment impact on OCB. More specifically, continuance
commitment has a strong negative relation to OCB when job satisfaction is low but continuance
commitment will be unrelated to OCB when job satisfaction is high. This leads to the following
hypothesis (Figure 1 presents the heuristic framework of the analysis):
Hypothesis: Job satisfaction moderates the relationship between continuance commitment
and OCB.

67


Control Variables
Positive/Negative
Affectivity

ORGANIZATIONAL
CITIZENSHIP
BEHAVIORS

CONTINUANCE
COMMITMENT

JOB
SATISFACTION

Figure 1: Heuristic framework for the analysis

3. Methods
3.1 Sampling and subjects
The present field research is a two-study one, and the data collected from two independent
samples drawn from the public and the private sector in Greece. The public sector sample is from ten
regional and local government organizations located in the geographical area of Thessaloniki (overall
six organizations are approached) and in total, 392 employees successfully responded to the research.
The response rate is 61% and the demographic characteristics of the sample are: 42.7% males and
57.3% females; mean age is 35 years; mean organizational tenure is 9 years; 82% of the sample is
non-supervisory employees, and the remaining are heads of departments; educational level is: 20.1%
completed Secondary Education; 18.3% graduated from a Technological Educational Institute;
41.8% are University graduates; 19.8% have a Postgraduate diploma. The respondents answered
anonymously and at their own convenience. As far as the private sector sample is concerned, 323
employees returned to us completed and usable questionnaires from 12 service sector companies. All
companies have premises and operations in the geographical area of Thessaloniki. The overall
response rate is 59%. The demographic characteristics of the sample are: 42.4% males and 57.6%
females; mean age is 32 years; mean organizational tenure is 5 years; 77.4% of the sample is nonsupervisory employees, and the remaining are heads of departments; educational level is: 41.8%
completed Secondary Education; 19.5% graduated from a Technological Educational Institute;
68


26.3% are University graduates; 12.4% have a Postgraduate diploma. The respondents answered
anonymously and at their own convenience.

3.2 Measures
Job satisfaction is measured through a structured self-report questionnaire based on
Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) [Weiss et al., 1967] with twenty three items:
twelve measuring extrinsic satisfaction and eleven measuring intrinsic satisfaction. Continuance
commitment is based on the Continuance Commitment Scale (CCS) [Powell & Meyer, 2004] and
has nine items. For the measurement of OCB, the four dimensional scale of Moorman and
Blakely [1995] is used. This scale has the following dimensions [Fields, 2002, p. 238]:
Interpersonal helping: five items (altruistic behaviors - response to personal needs of coworkers when they deal with job-related tasks and problems).
Individual initiative: five items (employee efforts to improve individual and group/team
task performance, challenge groupthink, and encourage participation).
Personal industry: four items (adherence to organizational and management rules and instructions,
the unusual attention to quality, and the performance of tasks above and beyond the call of duty).
Loyal boosterism: five items (uncritical faithfulness to the organization, the defense of its
interests, and the contribution to the good reputation of the organization and its general welfare –
the promotion of the organization’s image to outsiders; it includes employees’ actions with
others external to the organization).
As control variable the Positive and Negative Affective Scale (PANAS) is used, [Watson et
al., 1988] comprising of twenty items – ten for positive affectivity and ten for negative
affectivity. This scale measures general positive and negative affect, a personality characteristic
identifying general feelings of positive or negative mood and relating them to the organizational
and job conditions and circumstances. The measurement scale is the 7-point Likert, having as
endpoints 1 = Complete disagreement, and 7 = Complete agreement. All scales employed in this
study are translated into Greek.

4. Results
69


4.1 Preliminary analyses
Tables 1 and 2 provide descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, and intercorrelations for the components of job satisfaction, continuance commitment, OCB, and the two
affectivity states for e public sector and private sector samples, respectively.
Mean

SD



1. Job satisfaction

4.61

.89

.90

2. Continuance commitment

4.55

1.15

.86

.23**

3. OCB

5.45

.77

.86

.31**

.12*

4. Positive affectivity

4.94

.94

.90

.34**

.15**

5. Negative affectivity

2.63

.78

.87

-.40** -.14** -.12** -.32**

Variables

1

2

3

4

.41**

Note. N = 392, ** p < .01 (two-tailed), * p < .05 (two-tailed)
Table 1: Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients),
Pearson correlations (public sector)

Mean

SD



1. Job satisfaction

4.72

1.01

.93

2. Continuance commitment

4.05

1.13

.85

.19**

3. OCB

5.10

.86

.91

.46**

.13*

4. Positive affectivity

4.86

.99

.91

.38**

-.05

5. Negative affectivity

2.62

.86

.88

-.03

Variables

1

2

3

4

.60**

-.15** -.12** -.23**

Note. N = 323, ** p < .01 (two-tailed), * p < .05 (two-tailed)
Table 2: Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients),
Pearson correlations (private sector)
70


The variables used for both studies have, by and large, strong inter-correlations and their
internal reliabilities are high, exemplifying significant psychometric properties. As anticipated,
the control variables of positive and negative affect are significantly correlated with all variables
entered into the regression analyses, except in two instances for the private sector sample.

4.2 Public sector sample
The results from the hierarchical regression analysis show that there is a significant
interactive effect among continuance commitment – job satisfaction – OCB: b = 1.10 (p < .01)
and the explained variance of the interaction is 56% (see Table 3). Furthermore, it can be seen
that job satisfaction and continuance commitment exert quite similar interactive influences on
OCB: for employees with low job satisfaction the impact of continuance commitment on OCB is
much more pronounced than for employees with high job satisfaction. Moreover, both
interactions are disordinal in nature as the regression lines of the relationship between
continuance commitment and OCB cross over within the range of satisfaction values [see: Aiken
& West, 1991, p. 22f]. To answer the question of whether the regression of OCB on continuance
commitment are different from zero for high and low values of job satisfaction, in addition,
simple slope analyses are performed. The results of these analyses reveal that for employees with
low job satisfaction the regression of OCB frequency on continuance commitment are
significantly different from zero (b = -1.85, t = 5.43, p < .01). On the other hand, for employees
with high job satisfaction the corresponding regression slopes indicate significant differences
from zero both for continuance commitment (b = 0.23, t = 4.46, p < .01) (see Figure 2).

71


Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)
Step 1

Step 2

B

SE b

B

SE b

.16**

.04

-.44**

.12

.04

.04

-.74**

.15

Positive affectivity (PA)

.28**

.04

.28**

.04

Negative affectivity (NA)

.11**

.04

.10

.04

1.10**

.21

Job satisfaction (JS)
Continuance commitment (CC)

JS * CC
R2

.52

.56

Adjusted R2

.27

.32

Note: ** p < .01, * p < .05, N = 392
Table 3: Hierarchical regression analysis for continuance commitment, job satisfaction, and
OCB (public sector)

9
8
7
OCB

6
Low job satisfaction

5

High job satisfaction
4
3
Low continuance commitment

High continuance commitment
CC

Figure 2: Regression lines for continuance commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB (public
sector)
72


4.3 Private sector sample
The results from the hierarchical regression analysis show that there is a significant
interactive effect among continuance commitment – job satisfaction – OCB: b = 1.14 (p < .01)
and the explained variance of the interaction is 48% (Table 4). Furthermore, the results reveal
that for employees with low job satisfaction the regression of OCB frequency on continuance
commitment are significantly different from zero (b = -1.84, t = 4.68, p < .01). On the other
hand, for employees with high job satisfaction the corresponding regression slopes indicate
significant differences for continuance commitment (b = 0.18, t = 3.35, p < .01) (See Figure 3).

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)
Step 1

Step 2

B

SE b

B

SE b

Job satisfaction (JS)

.18**

.04

.14

.13

Continuance commitment (CC)

.09*

.04

.05

.18

Positive affectivity (PA)

.48**

.04

.45**

.04

Negative affectivity (NA)

-.01

.04

.05

.04

1.14**

.24

JS * CC
R2

.42

.48

Adjusted R2

.18

.23

Note: ** p < .01, N = 323
Table 4: Hierarchical regression analysis for continuance commitment, job satisfaction, and
OCB (private sector)

73


9
8
7
OCB

6
Low job satisfaction
High job satisfaction

5
4
3
Low continuance commitment

High continuance commitment
CC

Figure 3: Regression lines for continuance commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB (private
sector)
Thus, increasing levels of continuance commitment are, by and large, associated with
decreasing levels of OCB only when job satisfaction is low.

5. Discussion
The present field study explored the moderating role of job satisfaction on the relationship
between continuance commitment and OCB. It has been found that this relationship is evident
and that the role of job satisfaction is to explain “when” this relationship is strong and to what
direction. In other words, when job satisfaction is low, increasing levels of continuance
commitment lead to decreasing levels of OCBs; whereas, when job satisfaction is high,
increasing levels of continuance commitment lead to an increase on OCB. This outcome explains
the effect of a satisfied or dissatisfied worker on the structural relationship between the more
calculative forms of commitment on the intended behavior at work, especially the extra-role
behavior. The “Good Soldier” syndrome seems to be more evident and pronounced when a
worker is happy with his/her job, even if the decision to stay with the organization is not because
he or she wants it, or ought to, but because he or she needs the particular job (either due to lack
of alternatives or due to high sacrifices).
74


This study provides useful information for managers and HR practitioners, since it stresses the
importance of developing workplace environments and employment relationships that will make
people feel at least happy with their job and the organization they work for. If they expose such
positive feelings, even if they feel that their commitment to the organization is more calculative
than affective, or normative, i.e., the side-bets of their decision to stay are stronger that their
affective feelings or their obligation commitments, then the extra-role and pro-social behaviors
of these workers at work will be exhibited and performed. In other words, if management wants
employees to have OCBs, then job satisfaction is essential for this occurrence.

5.1 Limitations
An important limitation of this study is the problem with the common-variance method that
arises from self-report and mono-source methodological tools adopted. This method biases are
attributable to the measurement method, rather than to the construct of interest [Bagozzi & Yi,
1991]. This might account for some inflation of the relationships between the variables used for the
research, but apparently cannot be responsible for finding links. However, there are relatively few
alternatives to this type of field studies. This deficiency is exhibited in all field studies using selfreported quantitative-type questionnaires. It is difficult to envisage a way in which individual
attitudes such as job satisfaction can be assessed other than through self report. This is less of a
problem, however, for the hypothesized interaction effects. The problem of common method
variance cannot account for interactions among variables but leads to an underestimation of these
statistical interactions [McClelland & Judd, 1993]. Despite the mono-source design, there should
be confidence in the interactions obtained. Moreover, the instruments developed for this research
have well proven psychometric properties, suggesting that they are likely to be resistant to
common method variance [Spector, 1987]. One alternative to overcome this limitation might be to
focus on a more qualitative approach, although personal interviews with a small number of
respondents would limit generalizability. Longitudinal studies incorporating behavioral data from
third party informants are strongly advocated in the literature. However such an approach was not
possible here and third party informants would be unable to comment on individual attitudes. Third
party reports of satisfaction or behavioral assessment of commitment are clearly avenues to be
pursued in future. However, given that the main contribution of this research was the development
75


and examination of a conceptual framework incorporating attitudes, self-regulations, and economic
sectors, these further lines of research remain to be developed. Another limitation is the Greek
translation of items, initially constructed in English or of an English-speaking audience. Thus,
interpretation problems could be arise, thus, some statements were further explained when written
in Greek This research decided to direct translate the items assuming to be ‘etic’, instead of
adopting the belief that quantitative researches should use culturally appropriate ‘emic’ measures
[see: Markovits et al., 2010; Vandenberghe, 2003]. Finally, the samples are convenient ones, thus,
this may limit the generalizability of the findings, although the relatively large sample sizes
mediate this shortcoming. The sample sizes are large enough, providing acceptable statistical
power to the results. However, the inclusion of a selection of relevant control variables (e.g.,
positive and negative affectivity), seeks to limit the extent to which individual experience might
confound the outcomes.

6. Recommendations for Future Research
The moderating role of job satisfaction to the continuance commitment - OCB relationship
needs to be further tested on the stability and generalizability of its conceptual framework. In
particular, the present empirical study needs further replication in other cultural contexts, either as
part of a longitudinal study in the same cultural context, or as a cross-cultural and a cross-national
study. Qualitative study of the more personalized and specific areas of OCBs and job attitudes may
also prove illuminating. This can be further connected to qualitative material selected by
managerial assessments of employees’ OCBs and attitudes towards their job and organization.

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Author’s biography
Yannis Markovits teaches organizational behavior and human resource management in
Greece. He received his PhD in Management (work/organizational psychology) from Aston
Business School, Birmingham. He has worked both in public administration and private sector
organizations for more than twenty years in management and HR positions, and teaches at the
Institute of Education, National Centre of Public Administration and Local Government and at
the Alexander’s Technological Educational Institute. His research interests centre on
organizational commitment, job satisfaction, employee motivation, and employees’ training. Dr.
Markovits has authored articles, books, and book chapters, and presented his work in various
international scientific conferences. He serves as reviewer on academic journals, and he is
associate editor of the International Journal of the Academy of Organizational Behavior
Management and member of the editorial review board of the International Journal of
Management Science and Information Technology. He has also participated and supervised
various research projects and worked as national expert on missions and projects in Greece and
in the EU.

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