Impact of Psychological Contract Fulfillment on Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Abstract

The contribution of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is a driving force of effectiveness in the hotel industry. Due to the perceived importance of OCBs, a significant amount of emphasis has been devoted to investigate the antecedents of such behaviors, especially by service organizations. Emerging lines of research put forward Psychological Contract Fulfillment (PCF) as an important antecedent to view organizational citizenship behavior. Hence, this study investigated the impact of psychological contract fulfillment on organizational citizenship behavior. Quantitative methodology has been adopted to achieve the aim of the study, and data was collected from three to five star hotels in central province, Sri Lanka, using a cross sectional study design and stratified random sampling technique. Items to measure psychological contract fulfillment were taken from Bal et al. (2010). Organizational citizenship behavior was measured using the 24 item scale developed by Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman and Fetter (1990). Two hundred and forty-two (242) usable questionnaires were collected and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with the aid of AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures) 23.0. The study results indicated that psychological contract fulfillment has a positive and significant impact on organizational citizenship behavior. This study provides important insights, especially for managers in the hotel sector, and emphasizes the importance of fulfilling psychological contracts with their employees. Despite the contributions and implications, studying only one antecedent of OCB, cross sectional nature of data and quantitative methodology are limitations of this study. Future studies may accommodate qualitative research approach, a longitudinal time frame, and may identify other possible antecedents of OCB.