The relationship between employee engagement and organizational citizenship behavior in Thai organizations.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between employee engagement and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in Thai organizations. The study focused on the use of employee perceptions of human resource development (HRD) practices as possible moderators to explain the strength and/or direction of the association between employee engagement and OCB. This study aimed to contribute to knowledge about employee engagement and shed light on how the field of HRD can be more involved in this knowledge creation. This study utilized a survey research method and relied on previously developed instruments related to the variables of interest. The study collected data from 522 employees from four large Thai organizations. Data were gathered with either a paper-and-pencil or an online survey format based on the choice of participating organizations and individual respondents. The primary method of data analysis was a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses. The findings of this study revealed the positive relationships between employee engagement and every component of OCB. In total, the variables in this study accounted for 35% of the variation in civic virtue, 27% for the variation in altruism, 17% for the variation in sportsmanship, and 13% for the variation in conscientiousness, as well as only 5% for the variation in courtesy. However, the findings of this study did not support any of the hypothesized moderating relationships between employee engagement and the various components of OCB. Based on the findings, recommendations for both research and practice are made. Recommendations for future research, especially in international settings are made to guide additional HRD research related to OCB and employee engagement. One of the most important recommendations for future research is the role of cultural contexts between the research site and the locations where the instruments were developed. The results from the study also point to the importance of collaborative research to create sound and useful knowledge. Finally, recommendations for practice are made to guide organizations related to the need of treating employees fairly and providing sincere support in terms of employees' well-being and development opportunities from both organizational and supervisory levels.