The relationship between work characteristics and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. A multi-level study on transformational leadership and organizational climate in immigration workers
| Published date | 06 November 2017 |
| Date | 06 November 2017 |
| Pages | 1890-1914 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-01-2016-0012 |
| Author | Rui-Hsin Kao |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
The relationship between work
characteristics and change-
oriented organizational
citizenship behavior
A multi-level study on transformational
leadership and organizational climate in
immigration workers
Rui-Hsin Kao
Department of Ocean and Border Governance, National Quemoy University,
Kinmen, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose –Improving employees’change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is important
because of the work content and service nature of the National Immigration Agency (NIA). The purpose of
this paper, whichtargeted immigration workersusing the work design model (knowledge oriented),leadership
types and organizational climate as perspectives, is to study immigration workers’change-oriented OCB.
Inspecting the knowledge-oriented work characteristics (KOWCs) of the NIA of Taiwan to find ways of
stimulating change-oriented OCB throughemployees’high self-efficacy is also critical. The investigators also
exploredhow transformational leadershipand organizationalclimate directly affect employees’change-oriented
OCB in a cross-level organization.
Design/methodology/approach –The subject of this research is the frontline immigration workers of
Taiwan’s NIA, with its entire staff on duty at the country’s airports and ports as targets of the research.
This study used a total of 312 questionnaires.
Findings –At the group level, transformational leadership shows significant positive influence on
organizational climate. KOWCs can positively influence self-efficacy and affect change-oriented OCB on an
individual basis; similarly, self-efficacy can also positively impact the individual’s change-oriented OCB.
In addition, transformational leadership and organizational climate have a contextual effect on the outcome
variable on an individual basis.
Originality/value –This finding is helpful for researching and practicing implications of HRM, such as in
further understanding how the motivation from work characteristics, organization’s environment and
interpersonal networks can increase employees’change-oriented OCB.
Keywords Quantitative, Organizational climate, Transformational leadership, Self-efficacy,
Change-oriented organizational citizenship behaviour, Knowledge-oriented work characteristics
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In recent years, new innovative discussion topics received a fair level of attention and new
ideas are no longer limited to technology and manufacturing industries. As research has
shown, the creation of new ideas is very important for organizational effectiveness and
employees who possess innovative tendencies are important assets to an organization in its
pursuit of success (Yuanand Woodman, 2010). Thus, in order for the governmentto respond
more quickly to the people’s needs, a new concept of civil servants must be constructed,
particularly in terms of new work processes and management.
The drive for innovation comes mainly fromthe rapid changes taking place in natureand
the social environment, such as how climate change affects the public’s expectations toward
improvements inservice standards of public administrative departments. In response to this,
public administrative departments must go through more thorough restructuring in service
Personnel Review
Vol. 46 No. 8, 2017
pp. 1890-1914
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-01-2016-0012
Received 19 January 2016
Revised 19 June 2016
18 October 2016
12 November 2016
Accepted 2 December 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
1890
PR
46,8
procedures and measures to cope with existing problems faced (Australian National Audit
Office, 2009). Amongst government departments, is the National Immigration Agency (NIA),
which is in charge of border control and immigrant matters, and deals closely with tourists
and immigrants passing in and out of Taiwan daily. According to interaction theory,
service efficacy refers to the experience shared and jointly created by customers and
employees in the process of service (Gronroos, 1984). To promote the qualities of service,
frontline immigration workers who interact most closely with the public must display much
more change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) which is innovative and
dares to challenge(Chiaburu et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2014) in the era when organizations pursue
the creation of new ideas and high service efficacy, so as to match the public’shigh
expectations of service efficacy from the government.
In the past, innovative behavior by employees did not encompass self-initiation,
challenging of authorities or revolution. This research, drawing reference from related
literature (Chiaburu et al., 2013; López-Domínguez et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2014), made use of
change-oriented OCB as a more suitable research variable. This is because in many studies,
change-oriented OCB is defined as “employees displaying the behavior of an innovative
nature that challenges”(López-Domínguez et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2014). This means that
employees make changes in terms of work methodologies, policies and procedures to occur
in roles outside their work authority and responsibility while bringing constructive benefits
to the organization too (Morrison and Phelps, 1999; LePine and Van Dyne, 2001;
López-Domínguez et al., 2013), a stand which this research agrees with as well. In addition to
their roles in border control and immigrant consultation, NIA staff could provide additional
services that exhibit greater care and convenience for travelers; that is, to encourage
immigration workers to demonstrate extra-role behaviors, such as taking the initiative to
assist travelers. Doing so would enhance the effectiveness of government services and foster
a more positive image of Taiwan. Thus, researchers should be more attentive to the
behaviors of immigration workers when examining the NIA (Kao, 2016, pp. 720-722),
especially with regards to the promotion of change-oriented OCB by the agency. In view of
the work and service nature of Taiwan’s NIA, this research holds the view that the NIA
needs to enhance its employees’demonstration of change-oriented OCB.
In recent years, Taiwan’s NIA has earned commendation for its innovative services,
such as the “Mobile Service Train”scheme which proactively provides counseling for
immigrants in rural areas and the “Self-service Immigration Clearance System”that
shortens time for custom clearance from 30 to 12 s with biometric technology. However, as
national security is also part of NIA’s responsibility, its leaders may overlook the service
aspect while placing emphasis on security as its core business (performance in the security
aspect is more easily measurable than services). This leads to lack of an innovative
organizational climate in services in spite of organizational innovation, thus causing
immigration workers to be unable to demonstrate change-oriented OCB. As mentioned
above, to encourage more change-oriented OCB from employees, it is necessary to consider
the environmental context at the organization (group) level, for example, leadership styles
and the establishment of a good organizational climate.
The ability of employees to innovate is often the starting point of an organization’s
innovation, therefore departments must put more effort and devote more resources to
develop employees who are more customer oriented and with endless innovative concepts,
together with a proactive attitude that can upgrade innovative organizational climate and
motivate employees’personal innovative behavior. Some past research works hold the view
that whether employees possess innovative qualities depends on their individual characters
and neglect the leadership styles of the organization’s leaders and how the organizational
climate developed under that leadership can influence employees’display of change-
oriented OCB. This includes how in some instances where although organizations have in
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Work
characteristics
and change-
oriented OCB
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