AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR AMONG HEALTHCARE EMPLOYEES: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

Abstract

The current study aims to assess the impact of affective commitment on the exhibition of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among the healthcare employees based upon the tenets of Social Exchange Theory. Using stratified random sampling technique, data were collected from 379 employees working in different hospitals across Jammu and Kashmir. The findings revealed significant positive impact of affective commitment on employees’ engagement in citizenship behaviors targeted at both individuals and organization. However, affective commitment emerged as the strongest predictor of OCB towards organization (OCBO) than towards the specific individuals (OCBI). The results of this study have contributed to the literature in the domain of organizational commitment and OCB by testing these linkages in Indian healthcare context, where there is dearth of studies confirming the said relationships. Moreover, this study has also contributed to Social Exchange Theory by validating its assumptions in a new context. This study also provides some valuable insights to healthcare sector which can have detrimental impact on the effective working of this sector.