Confucian moral roots of citizenship behaviour in China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which Confucian moral standards may serve as a moral root of employees' organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) in the People's Republic of China (PRC).Design/methodology/approach – The approach is conceptual, based on research within the field.Findings – This paper suggests that the moral characteristics of Confucianism (based on a strong body of empirical studies): harmony, group orientation, guanxi (relationships), diligence, self‐learning and thrift, are the great virtues of the indigenous forms of OCB in the PRC, including helping co‐worker; individual initiative and/or functional participation; group activity participation; self‐development; social welfare participation; promoting company image; voice; protecting and saving company resources; interpersonal harmony and keeping the workplace clean; and keeping departmental harmony and coexistence in adversity.Originality/value – First, this paper contributes to the extant knowledge as t...