EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP - IMPLICATIONS FOR LABOR-LAW REFORM AND LEAN PRODUCTION

Using data from surveys of employees and their supervisors in eight co mpanies in 1992, the authors examine how each of two forms of employee involvement affected an important dimension of individual performance , organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), defined as individual dis cretionary behavior that promotes the organization and is not explicit ly rewarded. Involvement in work organization increased OCB both indir ectly, by changing the job characteristics of individual tasks, and di rectly, independent of such changes. In contrast, involvement in decis ions governing employment practices had only small indirect effects on OCB and no direct effect. These results inform the contemporary debat e in labor law concerning the appropriate scope for employee involveme nt plans as well as the debate about the mechanism through which new p roduction systems affect employee performance.