Gathering Information and Exercising Influence: Two Forms of Civic Virtue Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Political behavior at work often is disparaged as self-serving activity that undermines the efficient pursuit of organizational goals. Yet politics has a more benign meaning as well: responsible participation in decision-making processes, keeping informed, and promoting innovative ideas that serve long-term organizational interests. To date, the negative image of organizational politics among managers and scholars has limited research on the positive contributions of responsible political participation, a form of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) known as civic virtue.This paper draws on political philosophy and organizational research to consider two forms of civic virtue OCB: gathering information and exercising influence. Both are proactive and can have beneficial results for individuals, organizations, and society. Conceptually, the two forms of civic virtue are related. Yet they also are different. Results of a field study of 245 employees and their supervisors provide support for similarities and differences in the two forms of civic virtue. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our study, and the benefits of continued research on both aspects of civic virtue OCB.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Orlando FL, April 2003, in a symposium entitled “New Perspectives on the Dimensionality of Organizational Citizenship Behavior.” A newer version of this paper was presented at the October 2005 International Meeting of the Association on Employment Practices and Principles (AEPP) in Baltimore, MD.