Prosocial behavior and job performance: Does the need for control and the need for achievement make a difference?

This study examined the relationship between job performance and prosocial behavior at work using several variables that to date have received little or no attention in the literature. It focuses on employees' need for control, need for achievement, and the more commonly studied variable of organizational commitment as direct predictors of prosocial behavior and ultimately as indirect antecedents of job performance. Eight hundred and forty-six employees from 41 organizations participated in the study. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) supported a direct relationship between need for achievement and job performance. However, no relationship was found between need for control and job performance. Moreover, when both personality variables were controlled for, the effect of prosocial behavior and commitment on job performance disappeared. This finding suggests that further work on the mediating effects of prosocial behavior and commitment on job performance is needed. Additional suggestions are given about the relationships among, and implications of, prosocial behavior, job performance, attitudinal, and personality variables.