The Impact of Role Conceptualization on the Process and Outcomes of Decision Making in an Educational Context

Research has shown that the traditional conceptualization of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs) is not tenable because some employees perceive OCBs to be part of their job or in-role behaviors (Morrison, 1994). Conceptualizing behaviors as in-role has been shown to increase the frequency of the behaviors but no study has investigated whether conceptualization of these behaviors influences the manner in which they are conducted. This study combined findings from OCB research with the Judgment and Decision Making literature in order to identify the impact that role conceptualization had on an ambiguous decision making exercise where the act of making the decision could have been considered an OCB. It was hypothesized that role conceptualization would influence the decision-making process used and outcomes associated with the decision. This influence was hypothesized to result in decisions that are more systematic if participants perceived the task as part of their job. Additionally, it was hypothesized that personal characteristics or work context would influence decisions and that effect would be moderated by role conceptualization. Results indicate that role conceptualization was not significantly related to the use of relevant student characteristics. Teachers who considered the decision-making task as an important part of their jobs were actually less consistent in their decisions to recommend college. Finally, while there was evidence that personal and work characteristics influenced the decision outcomes and processes, there was no support for the moderating effects of role conceptualization.