Organizational citizenship behavior in relation to employees' intention to stay in Indian organizations

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to find out dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in Indian setting and to further examine the role of OCB that impacts employees' intention to stay, with a view to draw on the deeper influences it carries on the quality work of the organization. Design/methodology/approach - Experimental research design was used to find out the causal relationship between these constructs, i.e., dimensions of OCB and intention to stay. Probability sampling method was used to obtain the sample. In total, 475 respondents were approached for data collection. Data were collected using questionnaire method. Findings - Factor analysis result revealed five factors of OCB, namely: sportsmanship, altruism, courtesy, civic virtue and conscientiousness, having the reliability of 0.93, 0.89, 0.81, 0.82 and 0.69, respectively, single factor of intention to stay having the reliability 0.87. The findings of Pearson's correlation, regression and structural equation modeling revealed unequivocal influence of OCB over employees' intention to stay, suggesting a maneuvering capability of OCB with its influence over employees' intention to stay in their present organizations. Research limitations/implications - Since this study was conducted in India, to establish the external validity has to be judged carefully. The organizations approached for the study were of the MNC level. Practical implications - This study is important to understand the citizenship behavior of employees in relation with intention to stay in Indians setting in particular and the world in general. When individual does work, without any expectation, stay with the organization for longer time inculcating, imbibing working culture of the organization which enriches his experiences, utilized in increasing productivity and prosperity of the organizations. Social implications - Overall, organizations are facing increased competition day by day; employees are expected to stretch themselves to be in the competition. After certain point of time, employees stop extending themselves, resulting in deteriorating the quality, performance and product. Retaining employees along with maintaining the quality becomes an important concern and issue for organizations. Importance of OCB is considered extensively in Industries in this regard. Originality/value - This is an original research in Indian Setting, much researches are not available finding the relationship between OCB and intention to stay in turn which improves the quality of organizations. This research is valuable for business world, are facing problems of retaining the employees which affects their efficiency, productivity and profitability.