752: Context Matters: New Perspectives on How Social Context Shapes Employee Prosocial Behavior (17136)

Organizer(s)

• RJ

  Remy Jennings

  Florida State U., United States

Participant(s)

• YL

  Young Eun Lee

  Florida State U., United States
• SK

  Saehee Kang

  Florida State U., United States

Presenter(s)

• MP

  Michael Paik

  Florida State U., United States

Participant(s)

• MK

  Mijeong Kwon

  U. of Colorado, Denver, United States

Presenter(s)

• DP

  Dong Pei

  Singapore Management U., Singapore

Participant(s)

• KT

  Kenneth Tai

  Singapore Management U., Singapore

Discussant(s)

• CR

  Christopher Rosen

  U. of Arkansas, United States

Participant(s)

• DK

  Daniel Kim

  U. of Florida, United States

Organizer(s)

• YL

  Yingge Li

  Florida State U., United States

Participant(s)

• KL

  Klodiana Lanaj

  U. of Florida, United States
• AS

  Alexander Settles

  U. of Florida, United States

Presenter(s)

• TK

  Thomas Kelemen

  Kansas State U., United States

Participant(s)

• PT

  Phillip Thompson

  Virginia Tech, United States
• MM

  Michael Matthews

  U. of Texas Rio Grande Valley, United States
• MB

  Mark Bolino

  U. of Oklahoma, United States

Prosocial behaviors are a ubiquitous part of daily organizational life for most employees. Whether it is helping an overwhelmed colleague with their work tasks, asking for advice from a team member about a work or personal problem, or observing a coworker offering assistance to another organizational member, prosocial behaviors are highly prevalent and visible in the workplace. Research has suggested that prosocial behaviors may offer benefits for both the giver and the receiver as well as improve organizational performance. However, more recent research has cautioned that prosocial behaviors may also have some costs for actors. Given the complex implications of prosocial behavior for actors, it is important to understand factors that influence the extent to which employees choose to engage in prosocial actions toward their coworkers. This symposium seeks to offer new insights into the complexity of behaving prosocially toward coworkers by considering the social context in which prosocial behaviors in organizations occur. Due to the inherently interpersonal nature of prosocial behaviors, social judgments about coworkers may affect employees’ willingness to give help, advice, or other assistance to their coworkers. Indeed, prosocial behaviors at work do not occur in a vacuum but rather are embedded in the context of ongoing coworker relationships and social pressures in an organization. Thus, our work seeks to contribute to our understanding of when employees behave prosocially toward their coworkers by considering various types of social perceptions at work as predictors of prosocial behaviors. Specifically, utilizing a diverse set of methods (e.g., experience sampling study, experiment, multi-wave dyadic study), the papers presented here collectively study relational judgements, social comparisons, and social pressures as antecedents of different types of prosocial behaviors at work (e.g., personal help giving, advice giving, OCB). Together, the papers suggest that how employees construe themselves in relation to their coworkers is a significant driving force of decisions to help (or not to help) coworkers.

Presentations:

• 11:30 – 13:00 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  752: The Costs and Benefits of Seeking Personal Help at Work (17136)
  

  Author: Remy E. Jennings – Florida State U.

  Author: Daniel Kim – U. of Florida

  Author: Yingge Li – Florida State U.

  Author: Klodiana Lanaj – U. of Florida

  Author: Alexander Settles – U. of Florida
• 11:30 – 13:00 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  752: Are You More Helpful Than I Am?Implications of OCB Comparisons for Coworker Sympathy and Inspiration (17136)
  

  Author: Thomas Kelemen – Kansas State U.

  Author: Phillip S. Thompson – Virginia Tech

  Author: Michael Matthews – U. of Texas Rio Grande Valley

  Author: Mark C. Bolino – U. of Oklahoma
• 11:30 – 13:00 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  752: The Contrasting Effects of Gender Upon Experiencing Citizenship Pressure (17136)
  

  Author: Young Eun Lee – Florida State U.

  Author: Saehee Kang – Florida State U.

  Author: Michael Paik – Florida State U.
• 11:30 – 13:00 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  752: Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation, and Envy (17136)
  

  Author: Mijeong Kwon – U. of Colorado, Denver

  Author: Dong Pei – Singapore Management U.

  Author: Kenneth Tai – Singapore Management U.