Too Drained to Help: A Resource Depletion Perspective on Daily Interpersonal Citizenship Behaviors

This article explores the role of within-person fluctuations in employees' daily surface acting and subsequent personal energy resources in the performance of organizational citizenship behaviors directed toward other individuals in the workplace (OCBI). Drawing on ego depletion theory (Muraven...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied psychology 2015-01, Vol.100 (1), p.227-236
Main Authors: Trougakos, John P., Beal, Daniel J., Cheng, Bonnie Hayden, Hideg, Ivona, Zweig, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Citizenship
Emotional Exhaustion
Emotional Regulation
Employees
Employment - psychology
Fatigue
Female
Human
Human behaviour
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Organization theory
Organizational Behavior
Organizational behaviour
Organizational Commitment
Organizational Effectiveness
Resource management
Sampling
Self-Control - psychology
Social Behavior
Studies
Work Performance
Work place
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Summary:This article explores the role of within-person fluctuations in employees' daily surface acting and subsequent personal energy resources in the performance of organizational citizenship behaviors directed toward other individuals in the workplace (OCBI). Drawing on ego depletion theory (Muraven & Baumeister, 2000), we develop a resource-based model in which surface acting is negatively associated with daily OCBIs through the depletion of resources manifested in end-of-day exhaustion. Further integrating ego depletion theory, we consider the role of employees' baseline personal resource pool, as indicated by chronic exhaustion, as a critical between-person moderator of these within-person relationships. Using an experience-sampling methodology to test this model, we found that surface acting was indirectly related to coworker ratings of OCBI through the experience of exhaustion. We further found that chronic levels of exhaustion exacerbated the influence of surface acting on employees' end-of-day exhaustion. These findings demonstrate the importance of employees' regulatory resource pool for combating depletion and maintaining important work behaviors. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
ISSN:0021-9010
1939-1854
DOI:10.1037/a0038082