The Determinants of Citizenship Behaviour in Nigerian Organisations

Abstract

For any organisation to succeed, its people must be able and willing to deliver optimally on their job description. However, beyond meeting the requirement of job descriptions is the greater need for employees to exhibit organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB). OCB represents those specific instances where employees go beyond the call of duty to get the organisation’s work done. Citizenship behaviour is believed to be one important component of what gives organisations competitive advantage that permits them to successfully accomplish goals. Thus, the study primarily investigated the determinants of citizenship behaviour in Nigerian organisations as well as the demographic variables that mediate the level at which it is manifested. The study adopted the survey research design. Employees from both public and private organisations were involved in the study. The questionnaire was used to elicit data on the variables in the study. Data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that citizenship behaviour in Nigerian organisations is predicted by the personality of individual employees; the employees’ degree of affective commitment; the employees’ perception of organisational justice; the employees’ spirituality; and whether the employee belongs in the public or private sector.  The study also found that none of the demographic factors investigated had any mediating effect on the determinants of OCB in Nigerian organisation. It was recommended that Nigerian organisations should implement measures aimed at improving affective commitment and organisational justice as well as encouraging employee spirituality in order to foster citizenship behaviour in the workplace.

Keywords: Behaviour; Citizenship; Discretionary; Organisation