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Our study examines two models of helping behavior in work groups. Our first model is a cross-level model and predicts that group-level cohesion, cooperative norms, and task conflict are related to individual helping behavior (peer-rated). Results support our hypotheses and further demonstrate that of the three group characteristics, cooperative norms have the strongest relationship with individual helping behavior. Our second model is a group-level model and examines the relationships among configural conceptualizations of group-level helping and group performance in conjunctive tasks. Results demonstrate that the least and the most helpful members in the group influence group performance in interesting ways. We conclude by discussing implications of our findings for practice and future research.
Keywords: helping; multilevel; group characteristics; performance
Helping other group members, such as sharing resources or assisting those who are behind in their work, is a form of discretionary behavior that has many potential benefits for the immediate work group and the organization (Anderson & Williams, 1996; Borman & Motowidlo, 1993; Organ, 1988; Van Dyne, Cummings, & McLean Parks, 1995). Today, the organizational benefits of helping are further accentuated by the increasingly interdependent nature of jobs and team-based organizational structures (Ilgen & Pulakos, 1999). Thus, helping behavior in work groups, the focus of this article, is a critical phenomenon in organizations.
We define helping behavior as voluntarily assisting other group members in work-related areas (e.g., Anderson & Williams, 1996; Van Dyne & LePine, 1998). Other conceptually similar constructs, such as Organ's (1988) altruism dimension of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), George and Brief's (1992) helping coworkers dimension of organizational spontaneity, and Borman and Motowidlo's ( 1993) helping-others dimension of contextual performance, indicate the prevalence of research on individual-level helping. As with Anderson and William's (1996) approach, our focus is on helping behavior itself, recognizing that helping may be in-role or extrarole. In contrast to prior research, however, we examine the antecedents of helping behavior (Figure 1, Model 1) and the group performance consequences of helping (Figure 1, Model 2) at two levels of analyses.
At the cross level of analyses (Figure 1, Model 1), we seek to understand relationships among characteristics of the work group and an individual's helping behavior (as rated by other group members). Specifically, we consider three group characteristics (group...