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ABSTRACT
The study examined the effect of leadership behaviors (transformational (TFL) and transactional (TSL) on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) while assessing the mediating role of job involvement. The investigation involved 209 employees from 45 different hospitality institutions (20 hotels, 10 guesthouses and 15 restaurants) in Accra, Ghana. Using multiple regression analysis, findings indicated that both leadership behaviors increase employees' engagement in OCB in the Ghanaian hospitality industry. It further established that job involvement mediated between TSL behaviors and OCB. However, we did not find support for our argument that job involvement can mediate TFL and OCB. The implications of these results for theory and practice are discussed.
JEL Classification: M12
Keywords: transactional leadership; transformational leadership; organizational citizenship behavior; job involvement; hospitality industry; Ghana
I.INTRODUCTION
Globalization and competition coupled with the growth of the service economy globally require employees in service organizations such as hotels to make rapid decisions without much consultation and discussions with their leaders (Jung and Yoon, 2013; Jha, 2014). This is because the above factors have raised service experience expectations of customers in the hospitality environments. As a result, customers increasingly now expect services and products to exceed their expectations. However, as service-oriented organizations, customer experience in the hospitality sector is extremely reliant on face-to-face interactions between service consumers and workers (Baum, 2015; Tracey, 2014; Madera, Dawson, Guchait and Belarmino, 2017). In this regard, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) of workers in the hospitality industry are important (Koyuncu, Burke, Astakhova, Eren and Cetin, 2013; Jha, 2014). Hospitality institutions where employees tend to engage in OCB can enhance their core competences, improve service quality, enhance customer satisfaction and potentially perform better than their competitors (Chiang and Hsieh, 2012; Podsakoff, Whiting, Podsakoff and Blume, 2009; Tang and Tang, 2012; Wang and Wong, 2011). Generally, OCB is voluntary, beneficial to people and organizations, and it is not a part of the formal system of the organization (e.g. Ma, Qu, Wilson and Eastman, 2013; Özduran and Tanova, 2017; Organ, 1988; Podsakoff et al., 2009; Wang, 2014). For instance, Organ (1988) describes OCB as an "individual behavior at work that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal rewards system, and in the aggregate promotes the efficient and effective functioning of the organization" (p.4).
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