Empathic Emotions and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors of Multinational Enterprise Employees of Japan, Korea and Singapore

Purpose - This study examined the influence of empathic emotions on change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (COCB) of Multinational enterprise employees from Japan, Korea and Singapore. Design/methodology/approach - The surveys were distributed both online and offline to IT multinational enterprises in Tokyo, Seoul, and Singapore offices. A total of 350 useable survey responses were collected from employees concerning the presence of empathic emotions and COCB relations. Findings - Empirical evidence demonstrated that employees exhibiting higher empathic emotions also exhibited higher COCB behaviors in all three-countries. Hofstede’s cultural dimension of long-term orientation (LTO) exhibited the highest score in Asian countries, notably Korea and Japan. Korea scored highest on the LTO dimension followed by Singapore. Japan scored lower than Singapore, a result different from Hofstede’s research. Moreover, analysis indicated that Hofstede’s cultural dimension of LTO significantly mediated the relationship between empathic emotion and COCB. In particular, Korean employees exhibited the highest LTO cultural dimension, followed by Singapore then Japan. Research implications or Originality - Research findings indicate empathic emotions as possible antecedent of pro-social behavior in individuals. In addition, mediating LTO construct exhibited different outcomes from Korea, Singapore and Japan. Future research should expand cultural dimensions constructs in assessing pro-social or performance related behavior at both individual and group level in varying organizations and demographics.