Masculinity contest culture reduces organizational citizenship behaviors through decreased organizational identification.

Masculinity contest culture (MCC) encourages fierce competition and race for status at all costs. Across three experiments ( = 554), we investigated how MCC affects discretionary performance at work (i.e., organizational citizenship behaviors; OCBs). Compared to an alternative culture (i.e., feminine nurturing culture; FNC), participants in the MCC condition reported lower levels of OCBs toward the organization and its members. Further results showed that MCC diminished individuals' intentions to engage in discretionary performance through reduced organizational identification. We did not find a moderating effect of gender, suggesting that MCC thwarts discretionary performance and organizational identification for both women and men. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).