Investigating patterns of effective variables on organizational Change-Oriented citizenship behavior through Mediating role of Reaction to Change

INTRODUCTIONOrganizational citizenship behaviors are one kind of workplace behaviors that are performed spontaneously and are not a part of a job's formal tasks. These non-specific behaviors go beyond what is defined formally by organizations. Although these behaviors are very important for performance, efficiency, and success of the organization, they are not identified by the formal structures in the organization and there is no specific reward for them. Various types of these behaviors identified in different classifications have shown that they are really useful in the different workplaces. One of these behaviors is called change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. It is defined as the individual spontaneous and voluntary attempts of the employees that affect the organizational change through performing professional activities and include all the organizational citizenship behaviors. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the pattern of the variables affecting the change-oriented citizenship behaviors. Reaction to change in the employees of Bandar-e-emam petrochemical complex is the mediating variable.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKPrior research has proved that change-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors are only possible when the employees react positively to changes. Positive reaction to change occurs when members of the organization perceive its efficiency. If there is a common perception among the employees regarding the change efficiency, they perceive the organization as “ready for the change”. It means that the reaction to change is positive. Positive reaction to change leads to change-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors. On the other hand, if the individuals feel themselves as the agents of these changes, who make the decisions about and control them, they will probably react positively to organizational changes and can play active roles in performing these kinds of behaviors. Flexible procedures and policies could increase perceived value of the change and start change-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors through making employees have positive reaction to them.
METHODOLOGYThe research sample consisted of 383 employees of Bandar-e-emam Petrochemical Complex who were selected using stratified random sampling method. The research instruments were a four-item questionnaire about organizational policy, a twelve-item questionnaire about agency, an eleven-item questionnaire about perceived change efficiency, a nine-item scale of commitment to change, a questionnaire with 6 questions about readiness for change, and a four-item questionnaire about change-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors. All the instruments used in this study were responded on a five-point Likert scale, and their Cronbach’s alphas were desirable (0.77