Social Exchange And Post-employment Citizenship: Evidence From Public Accounting

Abstract

In this study I examine why some ex-employees more than others choose to benefit their former firm (post-employment citizenship). The study is based on social exchange theory and involves former employees of a Big Four accounting firm. Among individuals who left the firm voluntarily, post-employment citizenship was found to be predicted by a two-phase social exchange relationship between employees and the firm, and the two-phases, represented by during-employment perceived organizational support and during-employment organizational commitment, partially mediated the relationship between during-employment organizational fairness and post-employment citizenship. For layoff victims, I extend Brockner, Tyler, and Cooper-Schneider's (1992) research on the interaction between prior commitment and layoff fairness by studying the attitudes and behavior of layoff victims, as opposed to survivors. I found that procedural fairness of the layoff decision was positively associated with post-employment citizenship and that this relationship was moderated by victims' commitment to the organization prior to the layoff.