The ideal I-deal: Organizational citizenship behavior and the impact of the exchange relationship

Idiosyncratic deals (I-deals) are personal and voluntary agreements which individual employees negotiate with their employer. The current study investigated the relations of different types of I-deals with organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) of employees. Moreover, we investigated the moderating role of social exchange relationship. Hypotheses were tested on data of 210 employees working in different organizations. Results showed that the associations of I-deals with OCB depended upon the type of I-deal, with task and responsibility I-deals and schedule flexibility I-deals being directly related. A strong social exchange relationship with the organization enhanced the associations of schedule flexibility I-deals and location flexibility I-deals with OCB. Financial I-deals contributed to higher OCB only for employees with an economic exchange relationship.