Purpose: Organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) involves discretionary behaviour advantageous to the organisation that goes beyond existing role expectations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between the strength of accountability and teachers' OCB within three different management systems in which teachers are working: a system of assessment-based accountability; a system of the gradual introduction of accountability devices; and a system with no tests or examinations. Design/methodology/approach: Structural equation modelling of cross-sectional surveys from the three different management systems was used to estimate the path coefficients and to compare the strength of relationships between concepts in the models. Findings: The analysis shows that the factors that influence OCB in an accountability regime are clearly different from those in a regime with weak or no accountability devices. Research limitations/implications: A cross-sectional study does not allow us to test causal relationships among antecedents of organisational citizenship behaviour. The use of self-reported questionnaire data is another shortcoming. Furthermore, the response rates leave uncertainty about whether the samples are representative. Practical implications: The strength of accountability in education governance might influence OCB among teachers. Educational administrators could benefit from exploring this issue to help the establishment of institutional arrangements. Social implications: The paper shows that OCB amongst teachers is essential for the smooth functioning of schools for several reasons. Originality/value: The study integrates three strands of theories that have their focal points in employees' perceptions of exchange: Shore's theory on employee-organisation relationships; Bryk and Schneider's theory on trust in schools; and theories on accountability. (Contains 2 tables, 4 figures and 5 notes.)