Luen Peng Tan0000-0002-6888-5285Yuen Onn ChoongChing Seng Yap0000-0001-7663-311XChoe, Kum LungKum LungChoeParisa RungruangZhen Li2024-10-182024-10-182022-02-22https://doi.org/10.1108/JEAS-08-2021-0145https://dspace-cris.utar.edu.my/handle/123456789/3189Purpose This study examines the mediating effect of self-efficacy between perceived organizational support (POS) and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) organization (OCBO); and POS and OCB individual (OCBI) in a cross-cultural context. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 207 full-time academics from the private universities in Malaysia and Mainland China using a questionnaire survey. Findings The results indicate that self-efficacy is a salient mediator linking POS with OCBI and OCBO. Additionally, ethnic dissimilarity is found to have a contextual influence on the research model as the results reveal that self-efficacy only mediates the relationship between POS and OCBO but not between POS and OCBI in a heterogeneous society. In contrast, self-efficacy is found to mediate the relationships between POS and OCBO and between POS and OCBI in a homogeneous society. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by being one of the first studies that examine the relationship between self-efficacy and two dimensions of OCB in two different cultural contexts.journal-article