The Reciprocal Relationship between Change-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Benevolent Rule-Breaking: The Role of Psychological Safety in Public Organizations

In contemporary public organizations, employees increasingly rely on discretionary behaviors to overcome rigid rules and promote improvement. This study examines the reciprocal relationship between Change-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior (CO-OCB) and Benevolent Rule-Breaking (BRB), emphasizing the enabling role of Psychological Safety. Drawing on survey data collected from ۳۸۵ employees in Iranian public organizations, structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model. The results reveal a strong and significant bidirectional relationship between CO-OCB and BRB, indicating that these behaviors mutually reinforce one another rather than functioning independently. Psychological safety was found to exert a significant positive effect on both CO-OCB and BRB, highlighting its critical role in reducing perceived interpersonal risk and encouraging constructive risk-taking. Employees who perceive a psychologically safe climate are more willing to propose change-oriented ideas and, when necessary, deviate from formal rules for prosocial and organizationally beneficial purposes. These findings extend the literature on organizational citizenship behavior and constructive deviance by demonstrating how psychological safety integrates multiple forms of extra-role behavior into a dynamic behavioral system. The study offers practical implications for public sector managers, suggesting that fostering psychologically safe environments can promote adaptive behavior, innovation, and continuous improvement in bureaucratic contexts.

کلیدواژه ها:

Psychological Safety ، Change-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior ، Benevolent Rule-Breaking ، Constructive Deviance ، Public Organizations