It is argued here that a category of performance called citizenship behavior is important in organizations and not easily explained by the same incentives that induce entry, conformity to contractual role prescriptions, or high production. A study of 422 employees and their supervisors from 58 departments of two banks sought to elaborate on the nature and predictors of citizenship behavior. Results suggest that citizenship behavior includes at least two separate dimensions Altruism, or helping specific persons, and Generalized Compliance, a more impersonal form of conscientious citizenship Job satisfaction, as a measure of chronic mood state, showed a direct predictive path to Altruism but not Generalized Compliance Rural background had direct effects on both dimensions of citizenship behavior. The predictive power of other variables (e.g , leader supportiveness as assessed independently by co-workers, personality measures) varied across the two dimensions of citizenship behavior.
