Lavee Einat, Pindek Shani
Department of Human Services, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Front Psychol. 2020 Mar 17;11:460. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00460. eCollection 2020.
Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) - behaviors not formally required or rewarded by the organization, but which promote its effectiveness - can be directed at coworkers, the organization itself or other stakeholders. OCBs directed at customers (customer-oriented citizenship behavior or OCBC) have received surprisingly little attention. Preliminary studies examined the unique contribution that OCBCs make in terms of perceived service quality and customer loyalty. In the current study, OCBCs were conceptualized in terms of supplying informal resources, which are- resources provided outside the worker's formal role or the organization's formal goals, or formal resources offered in informal ways (after hours, off duty). Applying a qualitative design, we uncovered types of informal resources and their associated costs. We also examined differences in informal resource provision and costs between occupational groups. Participants were 214 Israeli professionals who offer customer service in the education, health and welfare domains. All participants reported investing informal resources in their customers. Data demonstrated a remarkable range of types of informal resources, including emotional, instrumental and material resources. The most prevalent associated costs were interference with workers' family life, followed by such personal costs as loss of free time, physical and emotional exhaustion, and material expenditures. Professional costs, which were rarely reported, included time taken from other customers and reduced in-role performance. No differences were detected in the pattern of informal resources between occupational groups: all employees reported high informal investment aimed at increasing customers' well-being. Some of the implications discussed include the potential organizational costs associated with OCBCs. While such behaviors can improve service quality ratings, they can also lead to depleted employee resources and higher strain, negatively impacting productivity in the long term.
组织公民行为（OCBs）——即那些并非组织正式要求或奖励，但却能提升组织效能的行为——可以针对同事、组织自身或其他利益相关者。针对客户的组织公民行为（以客户为导向的公民行为或OCBC）却出人意料地很少受到关注。初步研究考察了OCBCs在感知服务质量和客户忠诚度方面所做出的独特贡献。在当前的研究中，OCBCs被概念化为提供非正式资源，即工人正式职责或组织正式目标之外提供的资源，或以非正式方式（下班后、非工作时间）提供的正式资源。采用定性设计，我们发现了非正式资源的类型及其相关成本。我们还考察了不同职业群体在提供非正式资源和成本方面的差异。参与者是214名在教育、健康和福利领域提供客户服务的以色列专业人员。所有参与者都报告说在为客户投入非正式资源。数据显示出非正式资源的类型范围广泛，包括情感、工具性和物质资源。最普遍的相关成本是对员工家庭生活的干扰，其次是诸如失去自由时间、身心疲惫和物质支出等个人成本。很少被报告的职业成本包括从其他客户那里抽出的时间以及角色内绩效的降低。在不同职业群体之间，未检测到非正式资源模式的差异：所有员工都报告为提高客户福祉进行了大量的非正式投入。所讨论的一些影响包括与OCBCs相关的潜在组织成本。虽然这类行为可以提高服务质量评级，但它们也可能导致员工资源耗尽和更高的压力，从长期来看会对生产力产生负面影响。
