The relationship between trait self-control, consideration for future consequence and organizational citizenship behavior among Chinese employees.

BACKGROUND: Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is important to the development of an organization. Research into factors that foster OCB and the underlying processes are therefore substantially crucial.

OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed to test the association between trait self-control and OCB and the mediating role of consideration for future consequence.

METHOD: Four hundred and ninety-four Chinese employees (275 men, 219 women) took part in the study. Participants completed a battery of self-report measures online that assessed trait self-control, tendencies of consideration of future consequence, and organizational citizenship behavior. Path analysis was conducted and bootstrapping technique (N = 5000), a resampling method that is asymptotically more accurate than the standard intervals using sample variance and assumptions of normality, was used to judge the significance of the mediation.

RESULTS: Results of path analysis showed that trait self-control was positively related to OCB. More importantly, the "trait self-control-OCB" link was mediated by consideration of future consequence-future, but not by consideration of future consequence-immediate.

CONCLUSIONS: Employees with high trait self-control engage in more organizational citizenship behavior and this link can be partly explained by consideration of future consequence-future.