Organizational citizenship and corporate citizenship : Two constructs, one research theme

The marketing and management literatures have investigated the notion of citizenship from an organizational perspective with the organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) construct, and from a social perspective with the notion of corporate citizenship (CC). Research on these two related aspects of citizenship has developed significantly over the past few years. Yet, studies of OCB and CC have grown independently of each other. This isolation is likely to result in (1) a confusion in terms, (2) no fruitful cross-fertilization of the two research streams, and (3) little insights into citizenship behaviors in general, regardless of their exact initiators and beneficiaries. In other words, an integration of these two bodies of research may enhance our understanding of citizenship initiatives in general, a knowledge which may then be applicable to various actors and contexts. Against this backdrop, the paper (1) examines the behaviors characteristic of citizenship in the OCB and CC literatures respectively, (2) compares OCB and CC, and (3) investigates potential linkages between these two concepts.