Interdependence and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Exploring the Mediating Effect of Group Cohesion in Multilevel Analysis

Abstract

The authors investigated the mechanism of group cohesion in the relationship between (a) task interdependence and goal interdependence and (b) individuals’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The authors adopted a multilevel perspective to facilitate understanding of the complex relations among variables. They collected data from 53 supervisors and 270 employees from R&D departments in Taiwan. The authors found that group cohesion fully mediated the effects of task interdependence and goal interdependence on employees’ OCB. In addition, task interdependence had a greater effect on group cohesion than did goal interdependence. The authors discuss implications and suggestions for future research.