Understanding prosocial behavior, sales performance, and turnover: A group-level analysis in a service context

Abstract

Theoretical justification for viewing prosocial behavior and voluntary turnover at the group level of analysis is provided. It was hypothesized that group cohesiveness and leaders' positive mood would be positively related to the incidence of prosocial behavior in work groups and negatively related to the groups' voluntary turnover rates. In addition, the emphasis placed on prosocial behavior during initial socialization into groups was expected to be positively related to the occurrence of prosocial behavior in groups. A potential consequence of prosocial behavior in a service context also was explored. More specifically, the form of prosocial behavior investigated, customer service, was hypothesized to be positively related to group sales performance. In general, the hypotheses were supported by data from a sample of 33 stores belonging to a national retail organization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)