Impetus for action: a cultural analysis of justice and organizational citizenship behavior in Chinese society

Administrative Science Quarterly,  Sept, 1997  by Jiing-Lih Farh,  P. Christopher Earley,  Shu-Chi Lin

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Table 1 Confirmatory Factor Analysis for the Chinese Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale (N=227)(*)

                                         1     2     3     4     5
1. Identification with the company
a. Willing to stand up to protect
   the reputation of the company.       .84
b. Eager to tell outsiders good news    .79
   about the company and clarify
   their misunderstandings.
c. Makes constructive suggestions       .77
   that can improve the operation
   of the company.
d. Actively attends company meetings.   .75

2. Altruism toward colleagues
a. Willing to assist new colleagues           .84
   to adjust to the work environment
b. Willing to help colleagues solve           .84
   work-related problems.
c. Willing to cover work assignments          .79
   for colleagues when needed.
d. Willing to coordinate and                  .68
   communicate with colleagues.

3. Conscientiousness
a. Complies with company rules and                  .78
   procedures even when nobody
   watches and no evidence can be
   traced.
b. Takes one's job seriously and                    .77
   rarely makes mistakes.
c. Does not mind taking on new or                   .77
   challenging assignments.
d. Tries hard to self-study to                      .71
   increase the quality of work
   outputs.
e. Often arrives early and starts                   .47
   to work immediately.

4. Interpersonal harmony
a. Uses illicit tactics to seek                           .83
   personal influence and gain with
   harmful effect on interpersonal
   harmony in the organization.(R)
b. Uses position power to pursue                          .83
   selfish personal gain.(R)
c. Takes credits, avoids blames, and                      .80
   and fights fiercely for personal
   gain.(R)
d. Often speaks ill of the supervisor                     .68
   or colleagues behind their
   backs.(R)

5. Protecting company resources
a. Conducts personal business on                                .85
   company time (e.g., trading
   stocks, shopping, going to
   barber shops).(R)
b. Uses company resources to do                                 .79
   personal business (e.g.,
   company phones, copy machines,
   computers, and cars).(R)
c. Views sick leave as benefit                                  .68
   and makes excuse for taking
   sick leave.(R)
Reliability (Cronbach's alpha)          .87   .87   .82   .86   .81

(*) Note: Tucker-Lewis Fit Index (TLI=.91; Goodness of Fit Index (GFI)=.87; Confirmatory Fit Index (CFI=.92. Chi square with 160 degrees of freedom=346.23.

(R) denotes items that have been reverse coded.

Etic and Emic Aspects of Chinese Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Table 2 presents a comparison of the five dimensions of the Chinese citizenship behavior scale with those identified by Organ (1988) and later operationalized by Podsakoff et al. (1990) and reveals several similarities and differences. Our dimensions of identification with the company, altruism toward colleagues, and conscientiousness are similar to dimensions reported by Organ and appear to be etic dimensions. While both scales include compliance with company regulations and policies and better-than-expected attendance records, the Chinese scale also comprises items that are somewhat more proactive, such as "willing to take on challenging assignments" and "willing to self-study to improve one's work performance."