Although the rapid growth in theory and research undoubtedly has been
gratifying to those interested in organizational citizenship behavior, it also has
produced some unfortunate consequences. For example, Van Dyne et al. (1995)
have noted that much of the empirical research on organizational citizenship
behavior, and the related concepts of prosocial organizational behavior and
organizational spontaneity, has focused more on what Schwab (1980) called
substantive validity, rather than on construct validity. That is, the literature has
focused more on understanding the relationships between organizational citizenship
and other constructs, rather than carefully defining the nature of citizenship
behavior itself. Following Schwab (1980), Van Dyne et al. (1995) warned that
unless additional attention is directed toward more comprehensive theoretical
explications of the constructs and their measures, we are in danger of developing
a stream of literature that may prove of little value to the field in the long run.