The Context Also Shapes the Impact of OCB: Between Invisible Dedication and Valued Performance

Marcela Peterson

In debates about performance evaluation, a subtle yet increasingly relevant point often goes unnoticed: effort is not perceived in absolute terms, but always mediated by context. Dedication to work, helping colleagues, and commitment to goals—all of these can have different meanings depending on who is observing and the environment in which they occur. Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB), especially those linked to dedication to work and interpersonal facilitation, impact performance evaluations by supervisors and peers. The conclusion was clear: yes, they do impact, but not uniformly. Dedication proved to be a real differentiator when assessed by supervisors, while interpersonal facilitation stood out particularly in the eyes of coworkers. In other words, the value of behavior depends on who is observing.

This finding resonates with everyday experiences in companies. In teams where collaboration is the norm, an individual’s dedication may go unnoticed. But in colder environments, where engagement is rare, any act of support or extra effort takes on an air of excellence. Even more intriguing is the overlap between OCB and technical-administrative performance. In some cases, behaviors such as following rules, working hard, and showing initiative—which are classic markers of OCB—become blurred with what is considered part of a manager’s “technical work.” This raises a provocative question: are we truly recognizing the actual effort, or only what we can clearly separate as “extra”?

When OCB ceases to be perceived as something beyond expectations, there is a risk of organizational invisibility. A highly dedicated manager, for example, may be evaluated the same as one with less effort, simply because they are part of a team where dedication is the norm. When leadership itself is included as a dimension of evaluation, the impact of dedication tends to decrease. Being an example seems to “come with the role,” and as a result, the opportunity to recognize the individual merit of such behavior is lost.

If we want fairer evaluations, we need to consider not only the behavior itself but also the environment, the team culture, and the evaluator’s perspective. The same gesture can carry different weight depending on these variables.

Individual effort, no matter how genuine, can fade under the weight of group expectations and the lens of the evaluator. If we want to retain talent and foster healthy cultures, we need to adjust our perspective. OCB cannot be naturalized—it must be recognized, even when everyone seems to be doing the same.

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