Is the Road to the Dark Side paved with Good Intent?: A pattern approach to OCB motives and OCB

The purpose of the present effort was to explore profiles of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and the motives driving such behavior via a pattern- oriented approach. Additionally, the relationships between patterns of OCB motives and counterproductive work behavior (CWB) and work-family conflict (WFC) were examined in an attempt to elucidate further the possible “dark side” of OCB. Latent profile analyses revealed distinct profiles of OCB motives (i.e., actively disengaged, pragmatic, altruistic, self-serving, and pressured) and OCB (i.e., non-citizen, well-rounded, exemplary citizen, interpersonal, and proactive). Furthermore, the profiles associated with OCB motives mapped onto profiles of OCB, clarifying a link between specific types of OCB and their driving motives. Finally, associations between OCB motives and CWB and WFC were also revealed, bolstering growing work connecting OCB to negative outcomes. Implications for both theory and practice are discussed.