Drawing on the costly signaling theory (CST), this study examined the need for status as a hidden motive to increase organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and result in the focal employee's overall evaluation. Moreover, as the activating cues, this study considered political skill as an individual characteristic and task visibility as a situational factor in the relationship between the need for status, OCB, and overall evaluation. To test these predictions, we obtained and analyzed 299 questionnaire responses from pairs of subordinates and supervisors in various South Korean industries. The analytical results supported our hypotheses that the need for status increased OCB, resulting in high performance appraisal. Moreover, task visibility positively moderated the relationship between the need for status and overall evaluation, which was mediated by OCB. However, political skill exhibited a negative moderation effect on this mediation process. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications, and they also highlight directions for future research.
Keywords: organizational citizenship behavior; overall evaluation; political skill; task visibility; the need for status.