Relationship between Religiosity and Citizenship Behaviours in Organizations: Empirical Evidence from Selected Organisations in Lagos State

Abstract

Religiosity may be considered as a fundamental trait that defines Nigerians as a people. Although it is a concept that underlies all aspects of human behaviours, its impact on employees’ behaviours has been underestimated in the workplace. Consequently, the importance of organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB) to organisational effectiveness necessitated the investigation of the relationship between religiosity and OCB. It was hypothesized that the dimensions of religiosity will predict the demonstration of OCB among employees in Nigeria. This study adopted the ex post facto research design and systematic sampling technique. Questionnaire was administered to 359 employees selected from four sectors of the Nigerian economy. The findings revealed a positive relationship between intrinsic religiosity and the three dimensions of OCB: intrinsic religiosity and dutifulness (r=.182, p<0.01); intrinsic religiosity and organisational involvement (r=.170, p<0.01) and intrinsic religiosity and interpersonal relationship (r=.146, p<0.01). Conversely, a negative correlation was found between extrinsic religiosity and dutifulness (r= -.136, p<0.01); extrinsic religiosity and organisational involvement (r= -.122, p<0.05; and a positive correlation between extrinsic religiosity and interpersonal relationship (r =.137, p<0.01). The result further revealed that intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity jointly predicted OCB (? = .050, F (2,356) = 9.303, p<.01). However, only the intrinsic religiosity dimension significantly contributed to employees’ demonstration of OCB (?=.223, p<.01); extrinsic religiosity did not make significant contribution to employees’ demonstration of OCB (?= -.036, p>0.05). It was concluded that the employees’ intrinsic religiosity positively impact their demonstration of OCB in the workplace. Consequently, this study recommended management support of intrinsic religiosity within the purview of established work ethics.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n4p475