Anais
Resumo do trabalho
Gestão de Pessoas · Valores, Sentidos e Vínculos no/do Trabalho
Título
The Quiet Strength of Virtues: Bridging Perception of Meaningful Work and Organizational Citizenship Behavior
Palavras-chave
Meaningful Work
Organizational Citizenship Behavior
Virtues
Agradecimento:
This study is funded by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal), national funding through research grant UIDB/04521/2020
Autores
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Maria Eduarda SoaresISEG - Instituto Superior da Economia e Gestão
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Manuel Ferreira
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Patrícia TavaresUniversidade Católica Portuguesa
Resumo
Introdução
Introduction
Despite the growing body of literature on meaningful work and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB), limited attention has been paid to the psychological and moral mechanisms that bridge the two constructs. In particular, while virtues have gained recognition as relevant in organizational contexts, both to safeguard against ethical misconduct and to answer employees’ desire for fulfillment and transcendence, their specific mediating roles remain underexplored.
Despite the growing body of literature on meaningful work and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB), limited attention has been paid to the psychological and moral mechanisms that bridge the two constructs. In particular, while virtues have gained recognition as relevant in organizational contexts, both to safeguard against ethical misconduct and to answer employees’ desire for fulfillment and transcendence, their specific mediating roles remain underexplored.
Problema de Pesquisa e Objetivo
This study proposes that virtues are the linking mechanism between the two variables; that is, perception of meaningful work contributes to developing virtues that, in turn, contribute to behavioral changes such as OCB. More specifically, the study examines how two under-researched virtues – patience and humility – mediate the relationship between perception of meaningful work and OCB.
Fundamentação Teórica
The study draws on the Motivational Intensity Theory (Brehm & Self, 1989) and Social Exchange Theory (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005) to derive hypothesis regarding the relationship between perception of meaningful work and OCB.
Metodologia
Through an online survey, a sample of 274 participants was obtained. Structural equations modelling with partial least squares was used to test the hypothesis under study.
Análise dos Resultados
Perception of meaningful work is positively associated with patience and humility. In turn, both virtues are positively related to all OCB dimensions. It is also confirmed that patience and humility have a mediating role on the relationship between perception of meaningful work and OCB. The proposed model explains 9,8% of the variance for patience and 5.3% for humility. For OCB, the model explains 19.9% of the variance for altruism, 16,0% for conscientiousness, 24,9% for courtesy, 26,5% for civic virtue, and 16,9% for sportsmanship.
Conclusão
The results confirm the mediating role of the virtues of patience and humility in the relationship between the perception of meaningful work and the OCB, verified for all dimensions of the OCB construct.
Contribuição / Impacto
By demonstrating that patience and humility significantly mediate the impact of meaningful work on the diverse dimensions of OCB, the research contributes to virtue ethics theory in organizational behavior and highlights the nuanced moral pathways through which meaningful work may translate into extra-role or prosocial behavior.
The study highlights that organizations seeking to foster organizational citizenship behavior should not only promote meaningful work, but also support the development of patience and humility, through HRM activities concerning leadership development, organizational
The study highlights that organizations seeking to foster organizational citizenship behavior should not only promote meaningful work, but also support the development of patience and humility, through HRM activities concerning leadership development, organizational
Referências Bibliográficas
Brehm, J. W., & Self, E. A. (1989). The Intensity of Motivation. Annual Review of Psychology,
40(1), 109–131. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.40.020189.000545
Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social Exchange Theory: An Interdisciplinary Review.
Journal of Management, 31(6), 874–900. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206305279602
40(1), 109–131. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.40.020189.000545
Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social Exchange Theory: An Interdisciplinary Review.
Journal of Management, 31(6), 874–900. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206305279602