The impact of group formation and perceptions of fairness on organizational citizenship behaviors

An experimental design was used to assess the impact of group formation and perceptions of fairness on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Se veral mediators were also considered. First, when groups were established, social comparison and competition among those groups was expected to reduce the number of OCBs that would occur between the groups. Second, perception s of unfair procedures were expected to result in negative affective and co gnitive reactions, which would also decrease OCBs. It was also hypothesized that group formation and perceptions of fairness would interact to more st rongly affect OCBs. Results indicated that group formation had a substantia l impact on the frequency of OCBs, and that social competition was a signif icant mediator of that relationship. On the other hand. this study found li ttle evidence for the negative impact of unjust procedures on OCBs. The int eraction between group formation and unjust procedures was not significant. Implications for organizations are discussed.