ORGANIZATIONAL ENVY AND ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOUR: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE

Abstract

This study is founded on the basic thought that disparities in handling by a manager provokes workplace envy, which consistently heralds negative effects on Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) and extra helping behaviours centred on co-workers. This study investigates the position of workplace envy in the relationship between Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) and Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) in addition to exploring a likely antithetical correlation between LMX and organizational envy. It thus explores how envy occasioned by poor LMX pressures envious worker’s behaviour or OCB in the workplace and suggests that when workers experience workplace envy, they display decreased motivation to assist others except such activities are stated in their job descriptions. The extra-supportive behaviours displayed by workers are significant for the smooth operations of organizations, so a deeper appreciation of envy as a hindrance to OCB is significantly constructive. The descriptive research design was employed. A sample of 465 respondents was drawn from the 1659 population of the staff of the four selected aviation companies. The Cronbach’s Alpha was utilized to calculate the reliability for the three scales adopted and the results were 0.75, 0.78 and 0.81. To explore the correlations between the different variables of the research, factor analysis, correlation, reliability tests, the means of the variable and regression analysis were utilized. The results of the study sustain the mediating effect of workplace envy on OCB and confirm the negative correlation between Workplace Envy, Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) and Leader-Member Exchange (LMX). The study recommends the institution of fairness and reasonable compensation schemes in organizations to dispel malicious envy. Also, managers have to be supported to generate helpful and unbiased situations since employees frequently experience envy attributable to gaps in their achievements and remunerations at work as compared with those of their colleagues. Nevertheless, the positive results of envy must be underscored so that envy offers a motivating role in the organisation.