Organisational Citizenship Behaviour and Leader Member Exchange: A Co-relational Study

Abstract

In today’s rapidly growing economy it is of utmost importance to have an edge over the competition. In an organisational set up the quality of human resource is a key aspect of that edge. Behaviourists have tried to understand how the dynamics of interpersonal interactions within an organisation can help improve its efficiency. Various constructs like Leadership, Motivation etc. have been studied at length in order to improve the work efficiency. Evidence suggests that apart from the mandatory job requirements, there are certain non-discretionary behaviours, which are not recognised by the formal reward system that contribute towards smooth functioning of an organisation. Organ et al. (1983) coined a term Organisation Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) to denote such behaviours. The question that arises is: what influences a member to perform behaviours that are neither mandatory nor formally acknowledged? There are a number of studies citing different antecedents to OCB. One of the most researched antecedents is the kind of leader that motivates the members to go above the call of duty. The present study however aims to understand whether the quality of Leader-Member Relationship/Exchange (LMX) has any influence on members displaying such behaviours. The study was conducted on 100 pairs of executives (Leader-Member pair) from the IT sector. Revised LMX7 and OCB Scale were administered. Data were analyzed by using coefficient of Correlation. Findings revealed significant association amongst the variables included in the study.