Social Exchange Theory and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Contemporary Perspectives in the Hotel Industry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58812/wsbm.v4i02.2960Keywords:
Social Exchange Theory, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Leader Member Exchange, Employee Reciprocity, Hotel IndustryAbstract
Introduction: The hotel industry is a service intensive sector where frontline employees simultaneously interact with supervisors, coworkers, and guests. Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB), defined as discretionary behaviors not formally rewarded, is critical for hotel success. Social Exchange Theory (SET) provides a framework for understanding OCB through reciprocal obligations, yet conceptual integration of Leader Member Exchange (LMX) and employee reciprocity in the hotel context remains limited. Methods: This conceptual paper synthesizes existing literature from Scopus indexed journals published between 1960 and 2025. A systematic search of databases including Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar yielded 68 relevant articles comprising empirical studies, conceptual papers, and systematic reviews. Theoretical synthesis was employed to develop propositions and a conceptual model integrating SET, LMX, and employee reciprocity specifically for the hotel industry. Results: The synthesis reveals that OCB has evolved through five phases, with hotel research adopting three orientations: customer oriented, service oriented, and change oriented OCB. High quality LMX reduces employee envy and fosters thriving at work, enhancing service oriented and change oriented OCB, moderated by psychological empowerment and professional respect. Employee reciprocity emerges as a core mediating mechanism linking organizational, supervisory, and guest exchanges to OCB, including customer empowering behaviors and customer citizenship behaviors triggering reciprocal employee citizenship behaviors. Conclusion: SET remains a powerful framework for OCB in hotels when expanded to multiple exchange relationships. Future research should focus on longitudinal designs, cross cultural comparisons, technology impacts, and the dark side of OCB. Practical implications include building professional respect, psychological empowerment, and facilitating positive guest employee exchanges.
References
[1] E. Ma and H. Qu, “Social exchanges as motivators of hotel employees’ organizational citizenship behavior: The proposition and application of a new three-dimensional framework,” Int. J. Hosp. Manag., vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 680–688, 2011.
[2] D. W. Organ, Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome. Lexington Books, 1988.
[3] T. S. Bateman and D. W. Organ, “Job satisfaction and the good soldier: The relationship between affect and employee ‘citizenship,’” Acad. Manag. J., vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 587–595, 1983.
[4] P. M. Podsakoff, S. B. MacKenzie, J. B. Paine, and D. G. Bachrach, “Organizational citizenship behaviors: A critical review of the theoretical and empirical literature and suggestions for future research,” J. Manage., vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 513–563, 2000, doi: 10.1177/014920630002600307.
[5] E. Ma, Y.-C. Wang, and H. Qu, “Reenergizing through angel customers: cross-cultural validation of customer-driven employee citizenship behavior,” Cornell Hosp. Q., vol. 63, no. 3, pp. 334–349, 2022.
[6] S. Srivastava, P. Dhamija, and P. Madan, “‘How does workplace spirituality influence organizational citizenship behavior in the hospitality industry?’: a person-organization fit perspective,” J. Asia Bus. Stud., vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 339–364, 2025.
[7] W. M. Lim, A. Aggarwal, V. Singh, and R. Gopal, “Leader–member exchange and service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior: A mediation-moderation model of employee envy and psychological empowerment among hotel frontline employees,” Int. J. Hosp. Tour. Adm., vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 763–792, 2025.
[8] A. W. Gouldner, “The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement,” Am. Sociol. Rev., pp. 161–178, 1960.
[9] D. Zeglat, F. Shrafat, and J. Al-Gasawneh, “Assessing the mediating role of employee reciprocity in the link between organisational citizenship behaviour and key job attitudes,” Int. J. Manag. Pract., vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 669–688, 2024.
[10] L. L. Gilson and C. B. Goldberg, “Editors’ comment: so, what is a conceptual paper?,” Group & Organization Management, vol. 40, no. 2. SAGE Publications Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA, pp. 127–130, 2015.
[11] P. M. Blau, Exchange and power in social life. John Wiley & Sons, 1964.
[12] H. Lee, S.-B. Yang, and C. Koo, “Exploring the effect of Airbnb hosts’ attachment and psychological ownership in the sharing economy,” Tour. Manag., vol. 70, pp. 284–294, 2019.
[13] E. Erwanto, M. R. Tawil, T. S. Wibowo, A. Salabi, and H. Ode, “The Influence Of Leader Member Exchange On Organizational Citizenship Behavior Job Satisfaction As A Moderating Variable,” Innov. J. Soc. Sci. Res., vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 1535–1543, 2024.
[14] M. Estiri, N. S. Amiri, D. Khajeheian, and H. Rayej, “Leader-member exchange and organizational citizenship behavior in hospitality industry: a study on effect of gender,” Eurasian Bus. Rev., vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 267–284, 2018.
[15] R. Fatmawati, A. Ambarwati, T. S. Wibowo, C. I. Ilham, and M. Sawir, “ARE TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ABLE TO INCREASE JOB SATISFACTION?,” Int. J. Econ. Bus. Account. Res., vol. 7, no. 3, 2023.
[16] J. V. de S. Meira and M. Hancer, “Using the social exchange theory to explore the employee-organization relationship in the hospitality industry,” Int. J. Contemp. Hosp. Manag., vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 670–692, 2021.
[17] E. Ma, D. Wang, L. Wang, and A. Liu, “Industry as contexts or theory? A systematic and meta-analysis of status and directions of organizational citizenship behaviors in hospitality,” J. Hosp. Tour. Res., vol. 47, no. 5, pp. 877–907, 2023.
[18] E. Jaakkola, “Designing conceptual articles: four approaches,” AMS Rev., vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 18–26, 2020.
[19] R. Cropanzano and M. S. Mitchell, “Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review,” J. Manage., vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 874–900, 2005.
[20] R. Ahmad, M. R. Nawaz, M. I. Ishaq, M. M. Khan, and H. A. Ashraf, “Social exchange theory: Systematic review and future directions,” Front. Psychol., vol. 13, 2023, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1015921.
[21] T. T. Vu and H. H. H. Trinh, “Blockchain technology for sustainable supply chains of agri-food in Vietnam: a SWOT analysis,” VNUHCM J. Econ. Bus. Law, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1278–1289, 2021.
[22] M. M. Raziq, R. Wazir, M. A. Memon, J. L. Rice, and M. Moazzam, “Empowering leadership, employee organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior: the roles of leader authenticity and trust,” Int. J. Product. Perform. Manag., vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 81–106, 2025.
[23] C. Lim, “Beyond fatiguing virtual meetings: How should virtual meetings for workplaces be supported?,” Int. J. Human–Computer Interact., vol. 40, no. 18, pp. 5103–5118, 2024.
[24] E. W. Kartika, “Relationship Beyond the Task: Leader-Member Exchange and Organizational Citizenship Behavior on Indonesian Generation Z Employees,” J. Econ. Business, Account. Ventur., vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 329–340, 2025.
[25] M.-L. Zhang et al., “A gene expression profile-based approach to screen the occurrence and predisposed host characteristics of drug-induced liver injury: a case study of Psoralea corylifolia Linn,” Front. Chem., vol. 11, 2023, doi: 10.3389/fchem.2023.1259569.
[26] J. Quan, Y. Yang, Z. Wu, and Y. Li, “Empowered to excel: How and when customer empowering behaviors ignite employee customer-oriented citizenship behaviors,” J. Hosp. Mark. Manag., vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 704–724, 2025.
[27] A. Masood, D. Ding, R. Agarwal, S. Nijjer, and P. Sasso, “Unveiling the nexus: organization inclusion, ethical virtues and organizational citizenship behavior in the hospitality sector,” J. Knowl. Manag., vol. 28, no. 10, pp. 2866–2888, 2024.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Endri Haryati, Teguh Setiawan Wibowo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Facebook 
Instagram 
Twitter 
Youtube 
westscience.journals@gmail.com