An investigation of key predictors of organizational citizenship behavior of civil servants

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the key predictors of organizational citizenship behavior of civil servants in local governments in Uganda.Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on a quantitative approach and cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected using a self-administered closed-ended questionnaire from a sample size of 265 respondents derived using Krejcie and Morgan (1970) from a population of 844 civil servants using stratified simple random sampling technique. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS statistical software vs 23 and Hypotheses tested using Hayes (2018) Process Macro v3.2 (Model 4).FindingsThe findings revealed that organizational justice has a significant positive effect on organizational commitment, which impact positively on organizational citizenship behavior of civil servants. The study further reveals an indirect-only mediation where organizational justice affects organizational citizenship behavior through organizational commitment. The study proves that there is no direct relationship such a relationship is enhanced through organizational commitment.Originality/valueThis study contributes to knowledge by providing key information on the predictors of organizational citizenship behavior of civil servants. The indirect-only mediation findings give some new insights into theory and literature. This study has eventually changed the direction of the debate popularly held among previous scholars who believe that organizational justice relates to organizational citizenship behavior. This is relevant in understanding the concept of organizational citizenship behavior and filling the practical gap that exists in Ugandan context.

Employee Participation in the Decision-Making Process and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Mediating Role of Affective Commitment

“…Accordingly, AC is found to be positively related to both dimensions of OCB. The findings were consistent with Hasani et al (2013) and Obedgiu et al (2020). Besides, our findings support the assertion of Cohen and Liu (2009), which emphasized the relevance of AC in the OC-OCB relationship.…”

“…Existing findings indicate that AC is positively associated with OCB (Khaola & Rambe, 2021;Obedgiu et al, 2020;Khaskheli et al, 2020). Specifically, AC causes an increase in employee job satisfaction, which is positively related to both OCB dimensions.…”

Organizational justice and organizational citizenship behaviour: the mediating role of psychological ownership

“…For instance, Moorman (1991) observed the positive impact of organizational justice on organizational citizenship behaviour, during his study among the organizations in the United States. But when Jehanzeb and Mohanty (2019) and Obedgiu et al (2020) repeated the same research in the banking industry in Pakistan and civil servants in Uganda respectively, they found an insignificant relationship between the two variables. There is a genuine need to examine organizational justice and its influence on various work attitudes, such as organizational citizenship behaviour (Hameed et al, 2019).…”

“…Organ (1988) observed that OCB consists of five vital constituents such as altruism, civic virtue, courtesy, sportsmanship and conscientiousness. OCB makes a prominent contribution to the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization by improving the productivity of the workforce, equipping the organization to meet various environmental changes, and solidifying better inter and intra workgroup coordination (Obedgiu et al, 2020). Even though these extra-role behaviours induce a positive work attitude and environment, there is no obligation on the part of employees to exhibit such behaviours simultaneously with their in-role behaviours (Ramdeo and Singh, 2019).…”

“…Conversion of mundane workplaces into interesting ones and better talent retention is possible through fostering citizenship behaviours in the organization (Obedgiu et al, 2020). Thus managers should take thoughtful and innovative steps to ensure that both OJ and PO is prevalent throughout their organizations.…”