Self-development as a Form of Organizational Citizenship Behavior : Examining the Effects of Job Satisfaction and Task Characteristics

Abstract

Self-development has been considered a form of OCB in the OCB literature, and people exhibit a variety of reasons to pursue it. This article examined whether employees' job satisfaction and task characteristics influence self-development. Hierarchical regression analysis of data collected from 2,230 Japanese employees revealed that job satisfaction and task unpredictability had a positive impact on positive attitude toward self-development, hope of increased time for self-development, and experience of self-development. While well-defined task requirements also had a positive effect on two self-development measures, task autonomy had no significant relationship with any measures of self-development.