This thesis examines the relationship between motivation and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). The purpose of motivation research is to uncover what compels individuals to perform specified tasks. Organizations try to produce motivation by creating situations that will lead to desired outcomes. This can be in the form of offering rewards (e.g. bonuses) acknowledging employees for their contributions to the organization, promotions or creating an ideal work environment. These approaches all share a common objective: motivating individuals to continue performing effectively and efficiently. However organizations decide to accomplish this goal, one of the potential benefits of motivating employees is job satisfaction. By establishing job satisfaction, an individual will be more compelled to exhibit organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Motivation often leads to job satisfaction, and potentially the development of OCBs. The purpose of this thesis is to develop the relationship between motivation (i.e. job characteristics theory (JCT) and cognitive evaluation theory (CET)) and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). This thesis proposes that higher levels of motivation will lead to larger amounts of OCBs which in tum, will benefit an organization (e.g. higher retention rates).