Case Study

The case below relates to an MBA Accounting & Finance student, Eli, at UPSA, who was interested in the applicability of organizational citizenship behaviour theory to Ghanaian workers. The title of the research is: The applicability of organizational citizenship behaviour theory to a Ghanaian organisation.

Background

The early definition of organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) viewed this as discretionary behaviours by employees that were not recognised through the reward system (Organ 1988; Organ et al. 2006). Partly because such behaviours could subsequently be recognised through reward, OCB was redefined as performance that supports the social and psychological environment within which work occurs (Organ 1997: 95). It has been adopted by researchers such as Bolino et al. (2002) to indicate situations where employees work beyond contractual requirements to support one another, to subordinate individual interests to organizational ones and to demonstrate organisational commitment. In this way OCBs may contribute to organisational performance and potentially offer a source of competitive advantage. Podsakoff et al. (2009) report finding over 650 published articles on OCB, mainly examining the categories of behaviour that make up OCB (its dimensions), what causes employees to engage in these behaviours (the determinants or antecedents of OCB) and how OCB is related to these other variables. An early, influential study to identify its dimensions used interviews with managers in a manufacturing company to identify organisational justice and OCB were moderated by cultural (attitudes about either modernity or tradition) and gender factors. Some behaviour of Ghanaian employees may be due to socialization or broader cultural norms and be more personally focused than organizationally related (Farh et al. 1997; Hui et al. 2004). This raises questions about the applicability of OCB in Ghana and whether organisational justice and psychology contract constructs may be determinants or antecedents of OCB. In addition, Hui et al. (2004) point out that organisational type may affect OCB; for example, they cite research saying that Ghanaian employees may prefer working for a foreign-owned company rather than a state-owned enterprise.

Research question and research objectives

The research question is:

To what extent are organisational citizenship behaviour, organisational justice and psychological contract theories applicable to Ghanaian organisations and why?

The research objectives are:

1) To identify suitable measurement scales for each theory, to use in the case study of Ghanaian organisation.

2) To examine the relationship in the case study organisation between findings from the organisational justice scale and findings from the organisational citizenship behaviour scale.

3) To examine the relationship in the case study organisation between findings from the psychological contract scale and findings from the organisational citizenship behaviour scale.

4) To examine the relationship between findings in the case study organisation from the organisational citizenship behaviour scale and findings in other national contexts from organisational citizenship behaviour research.

5) To draw conclusions from the relationships observed in objectives 2, 3 and 4, to evaluate the applicability of these concepts in a Ghanaian organisation.

Method

Research design

This research is designed to test the applicability of these theories in a case study, Ghanaian organisation. The research will use a survey strategy incorporating existing scales from peer- reviewed, high-quality academic journals. The research will be cross-sectional in nature.

Participants

The intended participants in this study work for [company name] in Ghana. Its management have agreed to grant me access to a representative sample of employees drawn from the different grades and occupations and between males and females employed within the organisation [email attached]. Eli is currently in correspondence with the manager of the human resource department to finalise a stratified random sample to represent the characteristics of the organisationsworkforce. It is envisaged that the sample size will be 200 employees.

Techniques

The scales for organisational citizenship behaviour, organisational justice and the psychological contract will be incorporated into a questionnaire that will also collect data about respondents demographic characteristics. This questionnaire will be administered in Ghana. It will be checked for accuracy of translation and pilot tested by some of my fellow students. Amendments will be made where necessary. It will then be administered in paper form. The data will be analysed quantitatively using IBM SPSS Statistics. A range of statistical techniques will be used to analyse these data and the results from these will be used to identify relationships between the concepts identified in the research objectives and to allow comparison with previously published research.

Ethical considerations and procedures

Eli will compose a letter to be sent to members of the sample that informs them about who I am and the purpose of my research project, and to assure them that their responses to each of the questionnaire items will be seen and used only by Eli. Respondents will not be asked for their name on the questionnaire. The questionnaire will ask for only limited personal data about each participant [for example, whether they are male or female as previous research has found this to be a significant factor in the applicability of organisational justice and organizational citizenship behaviours in a Ghanaian context (Farh et al. 1997)].

Completed questionnaires will be posted into a sealed container that will be returned to Eli to ensure respondent confidentiality and the anonymity of the data that they provide. These questionnaires will be given an anonymous code and the data they contain entered into a spreadsheet by Eli. Once I have input the data and it has been checked carefully to ensure accuracy the questionnaires will be shredded by Eli. Ensuring confidentiality and anonymity should mean that no harm should result from participating in this research. Part of my covering letter will state that participation is entirely voluntary and if an intended participant does not wish to take part, they are not under any obligation to do so. Another matching employee will be sent a copy of my letter and asked if they would like to receive a copy of my questionnaire. If he or she is willing to complete the questionnaire, he or she will be informed to post it personally into the sealed container.

Resources

I will be responsible for producing and copying the questionnaire. I will pay for the cost of posting these to Ghana. I also have access to IBM SPSS Statistics and am competent in the analytical techniques required to analyse the data and interpret this analysis. The company has kindly agreed to pay the costs of returning the completed questionnaires to Eli. Once I have received these questionnaires I will be responsible for inputting the data into the software to analyse it. There should not be any other resource requirements in order to be able to undertake this research project.

Required:

1. a) Using the information in the Background section of the proposal, what concerns may be raised about the proposed Research design, Title, Research question and research objectives? (12 Marks)
2. b) What further information would be helpful to know in the Participants section?

(4 Marks)

3. c) Based on the concerns raised in questions 1 and 2, suggest appropriate Title, Research question and research objectives and the Research design? (4 Marks)

Total Marks (20)