“Tell me about your day”: family support as a buffer of the negative relationship between citizenship pressure and change-oriented voluntarism

Purpose This study aims to investigate how employees’ experience of citizenship pressure counterintuitively might be negatively associated with their change-oriented voluntary work efforts, in a dynamic mediated by their intentions to quit and moderated by the work-related support they receive from their family. Design/methodology/approach The tests of the research hypotheses rely on survey data collected among Canadian-based employees who work in the health-care sector. Findings When employees perceive excessive pressure to go beyond the call of duty, it can relate negatively to their change-oriented organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) through a mechanism that involves their thoughts about leaving their employer. This mediating effect might be buffered, however, if employees can rely on support from family members who care about their work. Practical implications For organizations, this study pinpoints quitting intentions as a critical mechanism through which employees’ sense that they are forced to undertake extra effort relates to their diminished change-oriented voluntarism, a response that contradicts employer goals and expectations. It also explicates how this translation might be offset by support that extends beyond the work realm. Originality/value Being exposed to excessive expectations to volunteer can paradoxically be associated with a tendency among employees to refrain from undertaking voluntary change behaviours, even though such behaviours could produce relevant, original solutions for company challenges. This counterproductive dynamic can be subdued by an external source of help, that is, support from loved ones.