Enhancing Project Citizenship Behavior by Psychological Empowerment: Roles of Work Engagement and Perceived Organizational Support

Increasing evidence suggests that project citizenship behaviors (PCBs) are critical to project success. However, the mechanisms that enhance PCBs remain poorly understood, particularly regarding the role of individual psychological states. Based on self-determination theory, this study investigated how and when the psychological empowerment of information technology (IT) project managers affects their PCBs. Data were collected in two waves of time-lagged surveys (N = 283). Research hypotheses were tested by partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). It was found that psychological empowerment positively predicts PCBs, and work engagement plays a partial mediating role. Results of necessary condition analysis (NCA) provide additional evidence for this. Moreover, perceived organizational support strengthened the relationships between work engagement and two types of PCBs (i.e., loyalty behavior and initiative behavior), but did not significantly moderate the relationships between work engagement and the other two types of PCBs (i.e., helping behavior and compliance behavior). This study enriches the literature on PCB antecedents and expands the application of self-determination theory in project management.