Union influence on change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior: evidence from China
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-02-2022-0101 |
| Published date | 11 October 2022 |
| Date | 11 October 2022 |
| Pages | 387-401 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Enhua Hu,Mingyan Han,Mengyue Zhang,Lin Huang,Hongmei Shan |
Union influence on change-oriented
organizational citizenship behavior:
evidence from China
Enhua Hu, Mingyan Han and Mengyue Zhang
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China
Lin Huang
Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham - Ningbo China,
Ningbo, China, and
Hongmei Shan
School of Management, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications,
Nanjing, China
Abstract
Purpose –Despite the considerable research into China’s industrial relation system, little attention has been
focused on what do Chinese unions at the enterprise level do and how their daily work influences employees’
work-related outcomes. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, this paper aims to examine the impact of
Chinese enterprise union practices on employees’change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior through
the mediating roles of psychological safety, perceived insider status, and role breadth self-efficacy.
Design/methodology/approach –Data were collected from 450 employees at 45 unionized enterprises in
China through a three-wave survey. Multilevel analyses were conducted to test the hypothesized effects.
Findings –Chinese enterprise union practices positively predicted change-oriented organizational citizenship
behavior. Critically, psychological safety and role breadth self-efficacy mediated the positive relationship
between Chinese enterprise union practices and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior.
Originality/value –This study provides new evidence on the effectiveness of Chinese enterprise union
practices from a perspective of employees’work-related outcomes. It also enriches the existing literature on
antecedents of change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior and provides a “planned”perspective to
understand the mechanism that underlies the relationship between Chinese enterprise union practices and
change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior.
Keywords Chinese enterprise union, Chinese enterprise union practices, Change-oriented organizational
citizenship behavior, Psychological safety, Perceived insider status, Role breadth self-efficacy
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
With increasing uncertainty in the business environment, change-oriented organizational
citizenship behavior (change-oriented OCB) has become more prominent as organizations
expect employees to engage in change to help them maintain efficiency (Chiaburu et al., 2017).
Change-oriented OCB is defined as individuals’constructive efforts in identifying and
implementing changes regarding work policies, procedures, and methods to improve the
situation (Choi, 2007). Typical forms of change-oriented OCB include personal initiative to
Organizational
citizenship
behavior
387
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 72032002 and
71872089), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grants NC2022007 and
NJ2022033) and the Innovation Team “Research on Chinese Employment Relationship Management”of
Philosophy and Social Science Research in Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province of China.
Data availability statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the
corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Conflict of interest: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
Received 25 February 2022
Revised 28 June 2022
Accepted 16 August 2022
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 45 No. 2, 2023
pp. 387-401
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-02-2022-0101
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