Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Schools: Special Reference to Schools in Trincomalee District in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has received much attention in the past decade as scholars have recognized its significant impact on the success of organizations. The research study seeks to enrich our understanding of citizenship behavior in the school setting by identifying the main factors that may enhance this behavior among teachers. Specially, the research study examines the direct effect of teachers’ participation in decision making on their Organizational citizenship behavior, and the impact of teacher empowerment, as a mediating variable, on this relationship. Data were collected from 150 teachers in 04 schools in Trincomalee District. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that teacher empowerment played an important role in mediating the relationship between teachers’ participation in decision making and Organizational citizenship behavior. Involvement in decision-making processes encourage teachers to take on new roles and have a more direct impact on school life, which in turn might lead them to invest extra efforts in achieving school objectives. Principals and school administrators should acknowledge the importance of empowerment to teachers, and involve teachers in decision making within the managerial field too. The results of the study contribute to our understanding of the way participation in decision making and Organizational citizenship behavior interact in schools, and the importance of teachers’ sense of empowerment in explaining this relationship. Future research should further investigate the organizational citizenship within schools as little research has been conducted to date.

Keywords: Empowerment, Citizenship, Decision making, Teachers, Schools.