Literature Review

Describe the dimensions and antecedents of organisational citizenship behaviour?

Every organization is in need of an employee who performs certain tasks which are not a part of any job description. In such circumstances, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) plays an active role. Organizational citizenship behavior refers to behavior which is beneficial to the organization not directly but indirectly. There are many researches or studies conducted in favor of organizational citizenship behavior. The present study have investigates organizational citizenship behavior in an in depth manner.

In today’s ever quick era, every organization finds new ways to deal with various challenges. In today’s competitive environment, each enterprise requires an employee who will perform duties more than their specified role requirements. It has been seen that, when employees exert behavior which exceeds its specified requirements they help in improving the overall functioning of the organization. OCB has been referred to as a behavior which pertains in the organization in which the employee performs more than its job requirements (Suresh & Venkatammal, 2010). OCB has been referred to as the type of behavior which is voluntary in nature. Based on the research done by Organ 1988, organizational citizenship behavior is referred to as a vital aspect which helps in the survival of the organization as a whole. Organ also argued that, with the help of organizational citizenship behavior maximizes both the efficiency of the employee & organization which helps in the proper functioning of the organization as a whole.

There are various western researchers who have investigated organizational citizenship behavior in an in depth manner. The primary objective of this study is to predict the changes in organizational citizenship behavior either by personality or by organizational climate. This study takes into consideration a sample size of 215 employees of a public sector organization. The study conducted uses a two factor model theory and concludes that, personality & climate factors both have greater influence on organizational citizenship behavior.

Generally, OCB is referred to as a type of behavior such as helping the colleagues, perform some extra work voluntarily, representing the organization in front of the board members, assisting the co-workers in meeting the stringent deadlines etc. It has been seen that, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) can be of various forms i.e. one where the beneficiary is a single person (for example,: in case of helping an employee) and other where a group of beneficiaries is involved (representing the organization in front of the board members) (Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Its Nature, Antecedents, and Consequences, 2006). The main aim of this study is to investigate, the set of different organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) antecedents i.e. personality & organizational climate. Organizational climate in the current study has been defined as a set of perceived attributes of an organization as well as the ways in which organization deals with its group members or issues (if any). Organizational climate on the other hand has been referred to as a broader term which consists of various elements covered as antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Various studies suggest that, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) contributes towards the effectiveness of the organization thereby leading to high levels of performance for the same (Organ, Podsakoff & MacKenzie, 2006). Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has been referred to as a broader term which takes into consideration both social & psychological environment where the task takes place (Organ, 1988). Some of the common examples of organizational citizenship behavior are helping the newly appointed employee to get familiar with the organization, volunteer in changing shifts, help a colleague in meeting the deadline, working overtime without remuneration & organize activities in office. Some of the benefits of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) which might have positive impact on the effective functioning of the enterprise & betterment of employees have been discussed in this section of the review. Firstly, correlation between job satisfaction & organizational citizenship behavior is positive. This means that, people working in the organization are highly satisfied & not casual in nature. Secondly, employees who adopt various organizational citizenship behaviors tend to have better performance ratings. This will help the employee to earn more rewards & recognition within the enterprise. Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) seems to have compelling effects on the success of the organization i.e. it helps in enhancing the productivity of the organization, helpful behavior amongst the colleagues will help to facilitate cohesiveness, effective communication & strong networks will help the employees to improve the efficiency along with supportive working environment. Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has been referred to as a vital factor for success of any enterprise. Therefore, some of the factors which engages OCB in the workplace are personality, attitudes & characteristics/traits.

Antecedents of OCB

Some of the hypotheses which have been taken in this study are firstly, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is positively related to OCB, secondly; personality is related to OCB, thirdly; employees differ in their OCB based upon gender, age & marital status, fourthly; organizational citizenship behavior direct to organization (OCBO) has two main factors i.e. personality & organizational climate an lastly; organizational citizenship behavior direct to individuals (OCBI) is influenced by personality & organizational climate (LAM, SCHAUBROECK & NAUMANN, 2002). A sample size of 250 employees was taken and questionnaires were distributed amongst the same. Some of the tools adopted to gather information for organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) are organizational citizenship behavior questionnaire, organizational climate scale & five factor personality scale (Roberts & Hogan, 2001). The organizational citizenship behavior scale consists of 16 questions which are further divided into 8-8 items for organizational citizenship behavior direct to individuals (OCBI) and organizational citizenship behavior direct to organization (OCBO). The questions catering to OCBO takes into consideration that how the efficiency of the organization can be improved and OCBI takes into consideration that how individuals might help the other employees in the organization. Based on the results, 0.83 OCBI & 0.88 OCBO were seen (Khaola, 2008). This shows that, there is a positive link between OCBI & OCBO. Organizational climate scale refers to a bipolar scale which is constructed for the employees and belongs to different attributes such as rewards & recognition, interpersonal relations, organizational processes, sharing information & altruistic behavior. The five factor personality scale refers to a scale which consists of 50 items. The participants taking this tool rates the items on a 5 point Likert Scale from 1 to 5.

As per the study conducted regarding organizational citizenship behavior, organizational citizenship behavior direct to individuals (OCBI) has a positive correlation with the inter-personal relations, roles clarity, organizational processes & sharing of information. Whereas, on the other hand organizational citizenship behavior direct to organization (OCBO) is positively correlated to organizational processes, altruistic behavior and organizational climate. Organizational climate has been referred to as a complex phenomenon which is related to employee retention, employee commitment & employee’s perception for organization. Based upon the various studies conducted between the OCB & organizational climate, it has been stated that both are positively correlated with one another. Based upon the study conducted by Biswas & Varma 2007, a positive environment is seen within the enterprise which in turn leads to a positive energy amongst the employees. This positive energy inculcates willingness to engage in organizational citizenship behavior (OCB’s). As evidence, Biswas & Varma results that there is a positive correlation between climate pertaining in the organization & OCB amongst 374 manufacturing sectors all across the globe (Hooi, 2012). The link between personality factors with organizational citizenship behavior can be seen amongst the employees towards direct individuals (OCBI) & organization (OCBO). It has been seen that, employees help each other not only because of companionship but because of the bond they share with each other. Helping the colleagues is tapped by OCBI & helping the organization as whole is tapped by OCBO. It is said that, people who are high on agreeableness states they enjoy interacting with their colleagues and are known by the terms such as friendly, helpful, happy, selfless, cooperative & altruistic. These are the group of people who come into play in citizenship behaviors. There are another set of people, who not only assist their colleagues in performing their tasks but try to benefit the enterprise thereby leading to better functioning of the enterprise. Based upon various researches it has been seen that, people belonging to different age groups react differently. According to the study conducted by Wagner & Rush 2000, the early years of life i.e. 20-30 yrs is the at age for settling down and the latter ages i.e. 31-55yrs is the best age to spend leisure time with your loved ones (Gurbuz, 2009). This is the sole reason that, employees in young age try to match their needs with the needs of the organization. Whereas, on the other hand employees in the older age adjust their needs with whatever the organization is offering. It is seen that, married employees in any organization tend to pursue organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) towards the organization as a whole & their colleagues (Biswas & Varma, 2007). It has been seen that, married employees tend to give more time to the organization as compared to individuals.

Conclusion

Hence, as per the present study there is positive relation between organizational citizenship behavior and organizational processes. Organizational process refers to the relation between the member of the organization & openness in the communication processes. Effective communication plays a vital role in balancing between the information being spread in the big organizations. Hence, it is the duty of the top officials to create an atmosphere of effective communication and build good relations with the employees working under one roof. Therefore, initiating various measures might help to capture as well as promote fairness in the regime (Bukhari, 2009).

References

Biswas, S., & Varma, A 2007, “Psychological climate and individual performance in India: Test of a mediated model”, Employee Relations, vol. 29, pp. 664-676.

Bukhari, Z. (2009). Key Antecedents of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) in the Banking Sector of Pakistan. IJBM, 3(12).

Gurbuz, S. (2009). Some possible antecedents of military personnel organizational citizenship behavior.Military Psychology, 21(2), pp.200-215.

Hooi, L. (2012). Organisational justice, organisational citizenship behaviour and job satisfaction: what is the relationship?. JIBED, 6(3/4), p.274.

Khaola, P. (2008). Organisational citizenship behaviour within learning environments. The International Journal of Management Education, 7(1), pp.73-80.

LAM, S., SCHAUBROECK, J. and NAUMANN, S. (2002). GROUP ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR: A CONCEPTUALIZATION AND PRELIMINARY TEST OF ITS ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2002(1), pp.K1-K6.

Organ, D. (1988). Organizational citizenship behavior. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books.

Organ, D., Podsakoff, P. and MacKenzie, S. (2006). Organizational citizenship behavior. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Its Nature, Antecedents, and Consequences. (2006). Personnel Psychology, 59(2), pp.484-487.

Roberts, B. and Hogan, R. (2001). Personality psychology in the workplace. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, c.

Suresh, S. and Venkatammal, P. (2010). Antecedents of Organizational Citizenship Behaviour. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 36(2), pp.276-286.

Turnipseed, D. (2005). Handbook of organizational citizenship behavior. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Wagner, S. L., & Rush, M. C 2000, “Altruistic organizational citizenship behavior: context, disposition and age”, The Journal of Social Psychology, pp. 140, 379.