Impact of Person-Environment Fit & Psychological Climate On Organizational Citizenship Behaviour

Transcription

1 Impact of Person-Environment Fit & Psychological Climate On Organizational Citizenship Behaviour Akanksha Malik Student, Delhi University, Delhi Dr. Nishi Misra Scientist E, Defence Institute of Psychological Research Lucknow Road, Timarpur, Delhi ABSTRACT The study was conducted to investigate the relationship of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) with Person-Environment (PE) fit and psychological climate (PC). The sample comprised 81 employees of a public sector undertaking. Personal Data Sheet, Person-Environment (PE) Fit questionnaire, Psychological Climate questionnaire and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) Scale were the instruments used. Descriptive statistics, correlational analysis and regression analysis were the statistical techniques used. The results of the study depicted a linear relationship between PE fit, psychological climate and OCB. Psychological Climate was found to be a significant predictor of OCB whereas PE fit was not found to contribute significantly to OCB scores. Designation of employees was found to have a significant impact on OCB scores. This study has wide range implications for the organizational developments wherein the organization needs to work on person environment fit and look upon the psychological climate of the employees in order to have an organization with a good citizenship behavior. Keywords: Organisational Citizenship Behaviour, Person-Environment Fit, Psychological Climate INTRODUCTION Person environment fit (P E fit) is defined as the degree to which individual and environmental characteristics match (Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005). Due to its important implications in the workplace, person environment fit has always been a prominent theme in the field of organizational psychology. Each employee has certain needs which must be supplied by the organization. In response to this, the demands of the environment must be satisfied by the abilities of the employees. Every organization must have a mutually inclusive organizational climate. Much more than the organizational climate, what matters is the climate that is perceived by the employees and how they respond to it, which is known as Psychological Climate (PC).. There has been a dramatic growth of research in the field of Organistaional Citizenship Behaviour (OCB), especially in management domains, such as human resources management, industrial and labour relations, strategic management and international business. So far OCB has been connoted as one of the antecedents of organizational performance. However, the antecedents of OCB are not thoroughly investigated. This study attempted to measure the impact of two such antecedents of OCB- Person-Environment (P-E) fit and Psychological climate (PC). The variables in the study were defined as under: P-E Fit P-E fit was defined as, The degree of congruence or match between a person and environment (Holland 1997; Kristof 1996; Pervin 1968). Five dimensions of PE fit that were studied were: Person- > RJSSM: Volume: 03, Number: 09, January-2014 Page 173

2 Organization (P-O) fit, Person-Job (P-J) fit, Person-Vocation (P-V) fit, Person-Group (P-G) fit and Person-Person (P-P) fit (Jansen &Kristof Brown, 2006) P-O Fit Person-organization fit was broadly defined as the compatibility between people and organizations (Kristof, 1996). P-J Fit Person-job fit was defined as the fit between the abilities of a person and the demands of a job (Edwards, 1991). P-V Fit Person-vocation fit was defined as the congruence between a person s interests,abilities,characteristics and the requirement of their vocation (Holland, 1985). P-G Fit Person-group fit was defined as the extent to which people share similar characteristics with their work-groups (Kristof, 1996). P-P Fit Person-person fit was conceptualized as a state when people perceive themselves as fitting in because they are alike or similar to other people possessing the same characteristics (Muchinsky& Monahan, 1987). P-E Fit P-E fit was defined as a match between an individual s skills and abilities and the demands of the job (Schreuder& Coetzee, 2006). Dimensions of P-E fit that were studied were as under: Supplementary versus complementary fit Supplementary fit occurs when an individual possess the characteristics that are similar to other individuals in the same environment. (Sekiguchi, 2004). Complementary fit occurs when an individual s characteristic adds to the environment, making it a whole. Demands-abilities fit versus needs-supplies fit Demands-abilities fit occurs when an individual has the abilities required to meet environmental demands (Kristof, 1996). For example, a qualified and experienced technician would have the necessary skills and abilities required by an electrical company recruiting technicians (environmental demand). Needs-supplies fit occurs when an environment supplies resources that are demanded by individuals, such as, financial and physical resources as well as growth opportunities (Kristof, 1996). Perceived versus actual fit Cable and Judge (1997) explain that perceived fitis the judgment that an individual fits well with the environment. Perceived fit is measured by simply asking individuals to what degree they believe fit exists (Cable & Judge, 1997). Actual fit refers to the comparison between separately rated individual and environmental characteristics. Actual fit was measured by comparing characteristics at two levels, namely the individual and the environment. > RJSSM: Volume: 03, Number: 09, January-2014 Page 174

3 Psychological Climate Psychological climate refers to how organizational environments are perceived and interpreted by their employees (James, Hater, Gent, &Bruni, 1978). The construct of psychological climate measured in the questionnaire were supportive management, contribution, role clarity, recognition, self expression and challenge (Brown & Leigh 1996). Supportive Management Supportive managers will allow their subordinates to control their own work activities and methods for accomplishing their tasks without fear of punishment (Brown & Leigh 1996). This results in an increase in motivation and greater job involvement (Deci& Ryan, 1985). Contribution When the employees perceive that their work will significantly contribute in achieving organizational goals, they will become more involved in their jobs (Kahn, 1990). Role Clarity Role clarity means that work situations and role expected from employees are predictable, consistent and clear to them. These predictable work standards will create psychologically safe working environment (Brown & Leigh 1996). Recognition Perceived meaningfulness of the work environment is increased if one feels that his contribution and efforts are well-recognized and appreciated (Kahn, 1990) Self- Expression Employees can express the distinctive elements of their personality if the organizational environment fosters freedom of action (Kiewitz,Hochwarter, Ferris, & Castro, 2002). Employees who are able to express themselves without fear of reprisals experience psychological safety (Brown & Leigh 1996). On the other hand, this safety to express oneself results in greater job satisfaction, (Shalley, Gilson, & Blum, 2000) greater organizational commitment and reduced turnover intention (Kiewitz, Hochwarter, Ferris, & Castro, 2002). Challenge Challenging work that requires use of various creative skills results in perceived meaningfulness of the work and helps employees to achieve personal growth (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) Organ (1988) defined organizational citizenship behaviors as individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization. By discretionary, we mean that the behavior is not an enforceable requirement of therole or the job description, that is, the clearly specifiable terms of the person s employment contract with the organization. Examples of these behaviours include cooperation with peers, performing extra duties without complaint, punctuality, volunteering and helping others, using time efficiently, conserving resource, sharing ideas and positively representing the organization (Turnipseed and Rassuli, 2005). RATIONALE OF THE STUDY Every organization needs the right employees for the effective functioning and outcomes. > RJSSM: Volume: 03, Number: 09, January-2014 Page 175

4 It is required by every organization to focus on the fit between the employee and the environment in which he is in, in order to maintain a healthy psychological climate, and only when an employee perceives the organization s climate to be positive, effective outcomes can be maintained. The study was undertaken to understand the relation between the variables i.e. PE fit, psychological climate and OCB; that contribute for the growth of the organization alongwith the employees. The Independent Variables chosen in the present study were: P-E fit and Psychological climate. The impact of these two variables was observed on Organisational Citizenship Behaviour, which was the Dependent Variable. The hypotheses formulated in the study were: 1. P-E fit will have a significant positive relationship with Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). a. P-O fit will have a significant positive relationship with OCB. b. P-J fit will have a significant positive relationship with OCB. c. P-V fit will have a significant positive relationship with OCB. d. P-G fit will have a significant positive relationship with OCB. e. P-P fit will have a significant positive relationship with OCB. 2. Psychological Climate (PC) will have a significant positive relationship with Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). 3. P-E fit will bea significant predictor of OCB. 4. Psychological Climate (PC) will be a significant predictor of OCB. 5. Employees in the designation of managers and above will have significantly higher OCB scores than the employees below the designation of managers. METHODOLOGY Sample 100 full time employees of the Research and Development(R&D) Department of a public sector undertaking comprised the sample for this research. The organization was selected by using a convenient sampling method. Questionnaires were distributed personally to all the levels of employees in the respective department. Eighty one questionnaires were returned on time, yielding a response rate of 81percent (male=63,female= 18). The sample differed in age, designation, service in the organization and total years of work experience. Instruments The following instruments were used for data-collection: 1.Personal Data Sheet: This instrument (devised by self), measured seven demographic variables, viz. gender, age, department, designation, years of service in the specific organization and years of total work experience. 2. Psychological Climate Questionnaire (Brown & Leigh 1996): This measure comprised 21 items measuring six factors: supportive management (5 items), role clarity (3 items), contribution (4 item), recognition (3 items), self-expression (4 items), and challenge (2 items). The questionnaire has a reliability of P-E fit Questionnaire (Vogel & Feldman, 2009): contained 14 items that measured five dimensions: person-organization fit (P-O fit),person-job fit (P-J fit), person-vocation fit (P-V fit), person-group fit (P-G fit) and person-person fit (P-P fit). 4.Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale: The scale comprised 20 items. It measures Behavior that (a) goes beyond the basic requirements of the job, (b) is to a large extent discretionary, and (c) is of benefit to the organization (Lambert, 2006). > RJSSM: Volume: 03, Number: 09, January-2014 Page 176

5 PROCEDURE The permission to do research was obtained from the head of the organization. A request was made to Table-I: Demographic characteristics of the sample Gender Frequency Percentage Male Female Age <= >= Designation AGM DGM Senior Manager Manager Deputy Manager Assistant Manager, engineer Personal Secretary Analyst Junior Officer Lab Assistant Service in the Organisation Total Work Experience the employees to participate in the particular research. A period of two weeks was established for the data collection. Selective dates were chosen to visit the organization and interact with the employees. The questionnaires were distributed and the participants were asked to inform incase of any query.of the 100 questionnaires distributed, 81 were received. This means a return rate of 81% was obtained. Data Analysis Three data analysis methods were used in this study were descriptive statistics, correlation and linear regression. The data for this research were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 16.0). Before analysis, the data were coded using number sequences. The scoring for the three variables along with the subparts was done. The demographics were also coded. Correlational analysis was done to establish a relationship between all types of fit, psychological climate and organizational citizenship behavior. Regression analysis was computed for establishing the > RJSSM: Volume: 03, Number: 09, January-2014 Page 177

6 predictorsof OCB. In order to understand the effect of designation on OCB, t- test was calculated wherein the employees were divided into two groups (below managers, managers and above) RESULTS Demographic information regarding gender, age, designation, service in the particular organization and total work experience were explored in the present study. The results are shown below in Table. According to the descriptive analysis of the demographic profile of participants, there were 83.95% male participants and 16.05% female participants in the study. Majority of the subjects who responded to the questionnaire were in the age range of years (30.86%) % of the participants belonged to the age-group 26-30years. With regard to the designation, majority of them belonged to the assistant manager, engineer, scientist or the chemist category (27.16%). Majority of employees (49.38%) were employed for 0-10 years. Out of the 81 subjects who responded to the questionnaire, 8.64% had more than 30 years of work experience while the majority (46.91%) had been working in the organization for the last 10 years. For the descriptive analysis, the mean and standard deviation of all the variables, including, P-E fit, psychological climate and organizational citizenship behaviour and their subparts were calculated. Table-II: Descriptive Statistics of Person-Environment Fit scores, Psychological Climate scores and scores on Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Scale Variables N Mean Std. Deviation PE PO PJ PV PG PP SM RC Co Re SE Ch PC OCB PE= person-environment fit, PO = person-organization fit, PJ = person job fit, PV= person-vocation fit, PG= person group fit, PP = person-person fit; PC= psychological climate, SM= supportive management, RC= role clarity, Co= contribution, Re= recognition, SE= self expression, Ch= challenge, Organizational Citizenship Behavior=OCB The maximum standard deviation of the three variables is of organizational citizenship behavior i.e which shows that the scores of OCB are the most scattered among the participants followed by psychological climate (8.76) and the least scattered scores are of person-environment fit (6.21) which shows that the scores are the least deviated from the means out of the three main variables. Under the category of person-environment fit, person-person fit has the least standard deviation (1.29) indicating the participants to be having the most consistent scores on the items of this fit, followed by person-vocation fit(1.46), person organization fit(1.59), person job fit(2.15) and person group fit(2.72). > RJSSM: Volume: 03, Number: 09, January-2014 Page 178

7 Seeing the scores of the subparts of Psychological Climate, the maximum variance was observed in the scores of supportive management (2.55). Pearson coefficient correlation was computed to examine the correlation between the independent and dependent variables.the values are depicted in the table below. Table-III: Correlation values of Psychological Climate, PE Fit and its sub-parts and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour PC PO PJ PV PG PP PE OCB PC Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) PO Pearson Correlation.381 ** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) 0 PJ Pearson Correlation.539 ** Sig. (2-tailed) PV Pearson Correlation.625 ** ** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) PG Pearson Correlation.568 ** **.420 ** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) PP Pearson Correlation.340 **.329 ** ** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) PE Pearson Correlation.751 **.486 **.691 **.727 **.785 **.583 ** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) OCB Pearson Correlation.415 ** *.296 ** ** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). According to the results of correlational analyses, the correlation between psychological climate and OCB was which is significant at 0.01 levels and the value of correlation between person environment fit and OCB was It shows that with an increase in person-environment fit, a corresponding increase in scores on organizational citizenship behavior is observed. However the association between psychological climate and OCB was found to be more as compared to PE fit. The correlation between PE fit and psychological climate was 0.751(significant at 0.01 level) which is quite high. Out of all the fits, person vocation was found to be most strongly correlated with psychological climate (0.625) and organizational citizenship behavior (0.296). Person group had 0.568,.785 and correlation with psychological climate, person-environment fit and organizational citizenship behavior respectively. Person-group fit had the highest correlation with personenvironment fit(0.785) followed by person vocation fit (0.727), person-job fit(0.691), person-person fit(0.583) and the least correlation with person-organization fit.ocb had highest correlation with person vocation fit(0.296), followed by person-job fit(0.230), person group fit(0.218), person organization fit(0.157) and person-person fit(.155). > RJSSM: Volume: 03, Number: 09, January-2014 Page 179

8 A multiple linear regression analysis was applied to examine whether or not the independent variables possess statistical significance as predictor variables; psychological climate and person environment fit with the dependant variable- organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Table-IV: Multiple Regression Summaries of Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. B Std. Error Beta 1 (Constant) PC PE a. Predictors: (Constant), PE, PC The coefficient for psychological climate is So for every unit increase in psychological climate, a increase in OCB is predicted, holding all the variables constant. The coefficient of PE is.036. So for every unit increase in OCB, we expect a.036 point increase in OCB. As the Beta values of psychological climate (.404) is more than PE fit (.014), psychological climate has more of an effect on OCB. Table V: Model Summary Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate a a. Dependent Variable: OCB The value of multiple R = 0.415, predicts a linear relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable, though a not so high value. As the adjusted R square value is 0.151, the results could be reported as "15.1% of the variance in the measure of organizational citizenship behavior(ocb) can be predicted by measures of PE fit and Psychological climate." To further look into the OCB scores, the employees were divided into two groups on the basis of the designation. The two groups were: 1(below managers) and 2(managers and above). Table-VI: Significance of difference in OCB scores of two groups Designation N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean t Sig. 1= (Below Managers) =(Managers & above) The mean for group 1 is and for group 2 is Thus it can be said that employees higher in the hierarchy engage in more organizational citizenship behaviour than the lower levels. DISCUSSION Organizations have long been interested in the role of management on how employees think and feel about their jobs, as well as what employees are willing to dedicate to the organization. The research focused on three important variables of this field- psychological climate, P-E fit and organizational citizenship behavior. An attempt was made to understand the relation of OCB with psychological climate and PE fit. The first hypothesis that was formulated was that P-E fit and psychological climate have a significant relationship with Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB). Early research efforts on employee characteristics ( O Reilly& Chatman, 1986) focused on two main causes of OCBs, which Organ and Ryan (1995) view as underlying employee satisfaction, > RJSSM: Volume: 03, Number: 09, January-2014 Page 180

9 organizational commitment, perceptions of fairness, and perceptions of leader supportiveness equivalent to psychological climate. Our results are in support with the previous researches. The present correlation between psychological climate and organizational citizenship behavior was 0.415(Table III). Kristof (1996) suggested that PE fit would explain significant variance in job performance, OCB, and turnover. Our study supports this by the relation between them being (Table III). In the present study OCB had highest correlation with person vocation fit (0.296) indicating that if the person has the abilities which matches with the requirements of the job, then the person has the highest OCB when compared to all the other fits(table III). An interesting factor that emerged out of the study was that the PE fit and psychological climate have a correlation between them indicating that if the congruence between the person and the environment in which the person is in, is high, then the psychological climate i.e. how the individual perceives the organizational climate would also be high(table III). In one of the studies by Parker et.al.(2003), meta analytic procedures were used to examine the relationships between individual level(psychological) climate perceptions and work outcomes such as employee attitudes, psychological well being, motivation and performance. Results from the study of Lawler, 1992 and Pfeiffer, 1994 also depicts the beneficial effect of psychological climate and job involvement on performance. Another hypothesis in our research was that P-E fit and Psychological Climate(PC) have a significant impact on OCB.Our results showed that for every unit increase in psychological climate, a increase in OCB is predicted, holding all the variables constant while in the case of PE fit unit increase, increase in OCB is predicted. Thus psychological climate has more effect on OCB than PE fit. The results depict that PE fit is important and has a positive effect on OCB but how the employees perceive the organizational climate is a better predictor of OCB (Table IV). In the model depicting psychological climate and PE fit as independent variables and OCB as dependent variable, the strength of the association of the independent variables depicts proportion of variance in the OCB scores (Table V). The results of structural equation modeling of a study (Yen and Wen-Shen.2012) suggested that employee need-supply fit, demand-ability fit, person-group fit, and person-organization fit were positively related to employee need satisfaction. Further, need satisfaction was positively related to outcome variables like work engagement, interpersonal citizenship behavior, and organizational commitment. It was also observed that employees who have higher designation have better OCB scores than those who are below on the designation (Table VI). The reason could be speculated that the senior employees had to engage themselves in such behavior for the better of the other employees and to appear as a role model for the organization. Several other studies also confirm this relation. In one of the study, the authors compared the relationship of elements of the Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) and years of work experience of registered nurses in the state of Texas. Work experience research has shown a relationship between OCB and work experience though mediating roles of various work related characteristics does exist. (Kegans, McCamey & Hammond,2012) The major limitation of this study is the relatively small sample size i.e. 81 employees. Another limitation is that the research was focused on the study of a particular public sector undertaking organization, which was based on convenient sampling, thus may not be representative of all the organizations. Results are limited as they provide only numerical descriptions rather than detailed narrative and thus provide less elaborate accounts of the variables. This research focuses on the need to improve the fit between the employee and their job, vocation, group members and the organization itself. Also the organization needs to work upon the role clarity, contribution, recognition, self expression, supportive management and challenge for the employees, for the effective outcomes. Organization development should attend to the relevant aspects of psychological climate such as role clarity, contribution, recognition, self expression, supportive > RJSSM: Volume: 03, Number: 09, January-2014 Page 181

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