Comportamenti di Cittadinanza Organizzativa e Bisogno di Chiusura Cognitiva. Che cosa motiva il “buon soldato” nelle organizzazioni?

Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) is an individual discretionary helping behaviour, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system of the company. Recent studies emphasized the role of personality dimensions as determinants of OCB, encouraging analysis of the role of cognition and emotion in guiding employee work behaviour such as helping the others and defending the organization’s values and goals. An important source of motivation is Need For Cognitive Closure (NCC) that is the need to give meaning to the social environment, with the aim of reducing confusion and ambiguity, to facilitate social adaptation as well. We can assume that this epistemic motivation also influences people’s willingness to behave as a “good soldier”, positive behaviour in companies. This study analyses the influence of NCC on OCB. In particular the relation between NCC sub-dimensions (Closed mindedness, Need for Order, Need for Predictability, Ambiguity Intolerance) and OCB sub-dimensions (Trust in Managers, Superiors and Co-workers, Altruism and Civic Virtue) are considered. A sample of 172 workers completed a questionnaire composed of NCC and OCB Scales. Results show that Closed Mindedness predicts negatively Altruism and Civic Virtue, while Need for Order influences trust in management and in the company.