Ethical Duties of Organizational Citizens: Obligations Owed by Highly Committed Employees

Author(s)

Ryan Atkins, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Cam Caldwell
Larry A. Floyd
Russell Holzgrefe

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Business Ethics

ISSN

0167-4544

Publication Date

10-2012

Abstract/Excerpt

Individuals who demonstrate organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) contribute to their organization’s ability to create wealth, but they also owe their organizations a complex set of ethical duties. Although, the academic literature has begun to address the ethical duties owed by organizational leaders to organizational citizens, very little has been written about the duties owed by those who practice OCB to their organizations. In this article, we identify an array of ethical duties owed by those who engage in extra-role behavior and describe those duties in context with personality theory. We suggest that employees who understand the complex nature of OCB and the associated duties they owe to others are more likely to reach their potential and make greater contributions within their organizations.

DOI

10.1007/s10551-011-1154-9

Volume

110

Issue

3

First Page

285

Last Page

299

NSUWorks Citation

Atkins, Ryan; Caldwell, Cam; Floyd, Larry A.; and Holzgrefe, Russell, "Ethical Duties of Organizational Citizens: Obligations Owed by Highly Committed Employees" (2012). HCBE Faculty Articles. 599.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcbe_facarticles/599