CONTENT-DOMAIN CONFUSION AMONG RESEARCHERS, MANAGERS, AND UNION MEMBERS REGARDING ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR

This study investigated perceptions among different subject matter exp ert groups (SMEs) about the representation and meaning of organization al citizenship behaviour (OCB) scale items relative to items assessing altruism, collectivism, and organizational commitment. OCB researcher s, human resource management/organizational behaviour academics, manag ers and union members evaluated the extent to which different items de fined each of these four constructs. The results showed that only OCB researchers could distinguish OCB items from the other three content d omains. Managers were only able to distinguish OCB items from altruism . Union members perceived the OCB scale items to be as indicative of a ltruism, collectivism, and organizational commitment as they are of OC B, Human resources management/ organizational behaviour academics perc eived OCB items to be as indicative of collectivism and organizational commitment as they are of OCB. Thus it would appear that items that p urportedly measure OCB are not perceived as falling in a unique conten t domain.