Leader and Organizational Identification and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: Examining Cross-Lagged Relationships and the Moderating Role of Collective Identity Orientation

Abstract

People may identify with multiple entities at work, but how are different foci of identification related and how do they influence extra-role work behaviors? Drawing from social identity theory, our article examines: (a) the potential bidirectional relationship between leader and organizational identification; (b) the mediating role of organizational identification on the relationship between leader identification and organizational citizenship behavior (organization-targeted, OCBO); and (c) the moderating role of collective identity orientation on the indirect relationship between leader identification and OCBO via organizational identification. Cross-lagged analyses of two-time data in two independent studies provided support for identification generalization from leader identification to organizational identification and confirmed the hypothesized mediating role of organizational identification. Our results also confirmed the moderating role of collective identity orientation and showed that the relationship between leader identification and organizational identification was stronger for employees with low collective identity orientation. Support was also provided for moderated mediation. Overall, our findings showcase the importance of examining multiple identifications foci when studying social identification at work, and provide support for spillover effects of lower-order to higher-order identifications.