Impact of Workplace Spirituality on Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Comparative Study of Public and Private Sector Banking Employees in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Banks prefer to have individuals who possess extraordinary talents who are not only hard workers but also who can go beyond the minimum expectations of the company by demonstrating Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCB). However, the employer cannot force the employee to exhibit OCB and at the same time employee cannot expect formal rewards for performing OCB. With this challenge, the ways in which to stimulate OCB within and among banking employees is a problem. The empirical studies carried out by various scholars around the world have proved that workplace spirituality is a significant contributor to OCB. However, there is no evidence from the Sri Lankan context. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to assess the effect of workplace spirituality (meaningful work, sense of community and alignment with organizational values) on OCB with respect to private and public sector banking employees in Sri Lanka. The researcher followed the non-probabilistic convenience sampling method due to the absence of the sampling frame. With a standard questionnaire, responses were obtained from 282 banking employees. Results of regression analysis showed that workplace spirituality significantly impacts OCB with respect to both public and private sector banking employees. But statistically, this impact is higher among private sector banking employees in Sri Lanka. In reality, with work pressure and industry standards, demonstrating OCB is a huge challenge for both public and private sector banking employees. But yet, OCB of banking employees can be inspired intrinsically by creating a spirituality driven workplace.