Effects of Job Satisfaction and Conscientiousness on Extra-Role Behaviors

Objective of this study was to examine conscientiousness as a moderator of the relationship between job satisfaction and extra-role behaviors. The data were collected using a snowballing method from workers employed in a diverse set of occupations (N = 209). The analyses provide support for the hypothesis that conscientiousness moderates the relationship between job satisfaction and extra-role behavior. Specifically, the study found evidence that job satisfaction yielded stronger relationships with personal industry and with counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) among low-conscientiousness employees than among high-conscientiousness employees. The current findings suggest several strategies that organizations could use to influence extra-role behavior. First, the main effects for conscientiousness suggest that organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) could be increased and that CWBs could be decreased by screening-out job applicants who are low in conscientiousness. The main effects for job satisfaction suggest that making the workplace more satisfying can also increase OCBs and decrease CWBs. Finally, the moderator analyses suggest that the favorable effects of job satisfaction are more likely to occur among low-conscientiousness employees than among high-conscientiousness employees. This latter finding suggests that organizational interventions aimed at impacting extra-role behavior by influencing job satisfaction are more likely to be effective among some employees than among others. This study is among the first to examine the interactive effects of job satisfaction and conscientiousness on extra-role behavior. Although previous research has examined the main effects of these variables, few extra-role behavior studies have examined interactions between personality and job attitudes.