Tired from Working Hard? Examining the Effect of Organizational Citizenship Behavior on Emotional Exhaustion and the Buffering Roles of Public Service Motivation and Perceived Supervisor Support

Public servants are increasingly expected to go the extra mile in order to serve the public. This study examines a specific form of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)-namely, individual initiative (e.g., working after normal office hours)-and the extent to which it affects employees' well-being. Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, we conceptualize individual initiative as a type of job demand and propose that public service motivation (PSM) and perceived supervisor support (PSS) are important psychological resources that could buffer the deleterious effect of individual initiative on emotional exhaustion. Based on a sample of 214 employees in 41 local government organizations in Thailand, our analyses confirmed the buffering role of PSM. Furthermore, the three-way interaction analysis revealed that PSM and PSS simultaneously buffered the adverse effect of individual initiative, such that those with low levels of these factors experienced emotional exhaustion more intensely. This finding was observed even after controlling for the effect of negative affectivity (NA). Study implications and areas for future research are discussed.