Does employee-perceived reputation contribute to citizenship behavior?

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to propose and verify a research model that investigates the mediating role of organizational commitment on the relationship between hotel employee-perceived reputation and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Design/methodology/approach – Based on the data obtained from a sample of 323 hotel employees in China, the reliability, validity and hypothesized relationships in the model were tested through structural equation modeling using LISREL 8.70. Findings – Empirical results show that different dimensions of corporate reputation affect OCBs differently. Social responsibility reputation has both direct and indirect effects on OCBs, while there is no direct link between employee-treatment reputation and OCBs. The relationship between corporate reputation and OCBs is mediated by organizational commitment. Practical implications – Hotel managers should pay more attention to employee perception of the hotel’s reputation. Reputation management is as important as reputation building. Favorable perception of hotel’s reputation contributes to positive behavioral intentions. Originality/value – Most recent research has explored the relationship between corporate reputation and customer behaviors. However, few studies take employee perception of reputation into consideration. This study tried to fill this void. Also, this study contributes to the current knowledge of both the reputation literature and citizenship literature by exploring the mediation of organizational commitment on the relationship between employee-perceived reputation and citizenship behaviors through data obtained from Chinese hotels.