LIGHT TRIAD AND ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR IN PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS: THE ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT

Personality-based explanations in organizational behavior have long been dominated by the “Dark Triad,” while the psychological mechanisms through which prosocial traits translate into employees’ voluntary and extra-role contributions remain insufficiently understood. Addressing this gap, this study examines how the Light Triad (LT)—faith in humanity, humanism, and Kantianism—contributes to Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) and whether Psychological Empowerment (PE) explains this relationship. Drawing on data from 665 employees working in Turkish public organizations, the proposed model was tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with a two-stage hierarchical component approach. The findings show that employees with stronger LT orientations are more likely to experience their work as meaningful, feel competent, perceive autonomy, and believe that they can make an impact. These empowerment-related experiences, in turn, encourage employees to display OCB by helping others, cooperating with colleagues, and contributing beyond formal job requirements. The results further indicate that LT contributes to OCB both directly and indirectly through PE, suggesting that prosocial personality traits become organizationally valuable when supported by empowerment-related psychological conditions. Overall, the study advances management and organizational behavior literature by providing mechanism-based evidence on how prosocial traits are transformed into constructive employee behavior in public organizations. It also offers practical implications for job design, employee empowerment, and personnel management to foster citizenship behavior in public-sector settings.