Contextual Performance - Taxonomy of Contextual Performance

Taxonomy of Contextual Performance

Research has yielded several taxonomies of contextual performance and organizational citizenship behavior. Borman & Motowildo describe contextual performance as encompassing both OCB’s and prosocial work behaviors. The following is Borman & Motowildo’s taxonomy:

• Persisting with enthusiasm and extra effort as necessary to complete own task activities successfully
• Volunteering to carry out task activities that are not formally part of own job
• Helping and cooperating with others
• Following organizational rules and procedures
• Endorsing, supporting, and defending organizational objectives
• Interpersonal facilitation
• Job dedication

In order to garner information regarding an employee’s contextual performance, researchers generally adapt items from the previous taxonomy. Items are generally measured by supervisors on a Likert Scale, from one to five. A few sample items that capture the construct of contextual performance are:

• voluntarily does more than the job requires to help others or contribute to organizational effectiveness
• tackles a difficult work assignment enthusiastically
• volunteers for additional duty