Workplace Attachment as a Mediator of Organizational Tenure and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Abstract

The impact of organizational tenure on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has been studied previously. However, the role of workplace attachment intervening the link between these two variables has not been researched. Looking at the growing research interest in OCB in academic context, this study aimed to test a mediation model of these three variables in a university context. A structured questionnaire comprising scales on place attachment and OCB was used to collect data from staff of the studied university. Correlation analysis and structural equation modeling of a total of 323 responses (after outlier elimination) was conducted using SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 23.0. It was found out that with the increase in tenure, employees’ attachment to place and their OCB enhanced. It was also found that workplace attachment was a significant mediator of tenure and OCB, implying that tenure enhanced workplace attachment and attachment further enhanced OCB. Based on the previous place attachment literature, it was suggested that there should be meaningful interactions between employees and the physical and group setting, which would foster employees’ emotional bonding with the organization. Theoretically, this study contributes by introducing workplace attachment as a new variable in OCB literature.