Direct effect of extraversion and conscientiousness with interactive effect of positive psychological capital on organizational citizenship behavior among university teachers

Abstract

The present study has examined the direct effect of extraversion and conscientiousness with interactive effect of positive psychological capital on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among university teachers. Data was gathered through random sampling (N = 440) from teachers of public and private sector universities of four provinces of Pakistan. Extraversion and conscientiousness were measured by the extraversion and conscientiousness subscales of the big five inventory. Positive psychological capital questionnaire was used to measure positive psychological capital. Modified version of OCB was used to measure OCB. Results showed that extraversion and conscientiousness significantly and positively predicted OCB. Moderation analysis showed that high positive psychological capital attenuated the positive relationship of extraversion and conscientiousness with OCB.

Keywords:

• extraversion
• conscientiousness
• positive psychological capital
• Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

This study investigated whether teachers with traits of extraversion and conscientiousness will be more likely to engage in organizational citizenship behavior among 440 university teachers of different universities. The results of the regression analyses indicated that the teachers high in extraversion and conscientiousness were more likely to go the extra mile for the betterment of the organization; that empathic individuals are more likely to go beyond their work schedule to work for the organization. The moderation analyses results showed that high psychological capital reduced the relationship of extraversion and conscientiousness with organizational citizenship behavior. It means that high psychological capital reduces the dependence of organizational citizenship behavior on extraversion and conscientiousness. It is therefore suggested that university administration or Human resource department should concentrate on the development and maintenance of positive psychological capital to equip teachers with essential psychological resources which would enable the employees to perform extra role behaviors like citizenship behaviors.

1. Introduction

A critical and important role is played by university teachers. A university teacher is a person on whom the important activities of the university are dependent and without a teacher, university is a body without any soul. In the perspective of organizational behavior, university teachers are facing a demanding role in a sense that they are performing diverse roles in their job. They have to plan for their subjects, take their classes regularly, teach the relevant course material and regularly attend university meetings and seminars. In this way they are exhibiting behaviors that are conventionally agreed upon and openly or clearly acknowledged by the official reward system of the university. But if teachers voluntarily take additional governance work and perform auxiliary activities which support the organizational objectives, they exhibit a type of behavior what has been called as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Organ (1988) defines OCB as “individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization”. OCB includes manifold behaviors comprising of assisting others, voluntarily participating in extra duties, obedience to the rules and procedures at the place of work, putting more efforts in assisting students to recognize a hard subject matter, voluntarily attending students’ activities, giving of advance notices to students for rescheduling of classes, tutorials and neglecting to complain while dealing with naughty students. Such kind of citizenship behaviors might be anticipated to improve students’ academic achievement and are indispensable for smooth operations of organizations maximizing their efficiency (Jahangir et al. as cited in Davoudi, 2012).

Among researchers there is agreement on findings that for organizational enterprises OCBs are important (Barbuto, Brown, Wilhite, & Wheeler, 2001). Organizational performance is facilitated by OCB and it helps in attaining competitive edge (Bolino, 1999). It also has been suggested by Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Paine, and Bacharach (2000) that coworkers/colleagues productivity is enhanced by OCB, managerial productivity is increased, free means for fruitful purposes and decrease the need to distribute resources for disciplined functions. OCB promotes effectiveness and efficiency of the organization (Rajabbaigya, Mohammadpourb, & Faridi Khorshidi, 2014; Saxena & Sxena, 2015). Furthermore, it enhances stability of organizational performance, might serve as effective ways of organizing activities through work groups and improves the capability of organization to adjust to changes. Regarding OCB, it has been suggested by Bolino (1999) that these behaviors are performed by good organizational citizens because of their personality traits. So, understanding teacher’s personality is very important because it helps in placing them into teaching jobs and it gives indications about how they are likely to behave in different situations. No matter how dominant other factors may be, personality factors determine behavior in any case. It is an unavoidable fact that personality predicts behavior to a certain extent. According to Singh and Singh (2009) conscientiousness and extraversion are the most powerful predictors of OCB, so we have selected these two variables of personality in our study.

The personality trait of conscientiousness comprises of qualities such as being organized, dependent, persevering, self-disciplined and is therefore entitled to have an association with OCB, directed to the organization and to the job itself. Conscientious teachers are expected to be more responsible and have systematic approach to different challenges in life. Conscientious teachers tend to be determined in search of their personal goals as well as goals of the organization. Usually, they involve in citizenship behaviors as they contribute to foster their sense of accomplishment. Bowling (2010) considered conscientiousness, a personal quality that triggers elements of OCB. Teachers having high level of conscientiousness are expected to have more involvement in responsible and constructive behaviors in all areas of life including work context. Mahdiuon and Ghahramani (2010) in their study revealed that personality traits of conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness to experience predict OCB of Tehran university staff. In another investigation by Singh and Singh (2009), it was revealed that the personality traits of conscientiousness and extraversion have a substantial (positive) effect on the OCB. Lv, Shen, Cao, Su, and Chen (2012) in their investigation revealed that conscientiousness is a dispositional predictor of OCB.

Extraversion is another personality trait which can influence OCB. It includes characteristics like sociable, gregarious, assertive, talkative and active. Extraversion is another important dispositional element of OCB. Along with this, the extent to which a job requires dealing with others will also provide trait-relevant cues for the sociability dimension of extraversion. Extraverts will fit better in a situation that provides greater opportunities for meeting other people. Teachers with high trait of extraversion show more flexible behaviors which make them more likely to display OCB. Extraverted teachers involve more in OCB as they have more accessibility to the social surroundings around them and thus may be more exposed to the claim of others. Emmerik and Euwema (2007) in their study on teachers found that scoring low on extraversion leads to an inactive part in the social relations, therefore withdrawing from the circumstances which results in low OCB. Richards and Schat (2011) in their study found that extraversion and OCB are positively related. Debora, Oostrom, Molen, and Born (2015) in their investigation on employees found that extraversion is positively related to OCB.

With the development of positive psychology the focus has been made on strengths, skills, talents and potentials of employees instead of focusing on their inadequacies. Emphasis has been made by the behavioral scientists that there is need of more positive approach to provide support to employees and their organizations in accepting and countering the challenges of today’s modern organizations (Luthans, 2002). By taking this idea into consideration, Luthans (2002) established a fundamental concept called as positive psychological capital. Luthans and Youssef (2004) described positive psychological capital as individual’s positive and productive state of development categorized by optimism, efficacy, hope and resilience. These four components exhibit a “motivational propensity” to successfully complete the goals (Luthans, Avey, Avolio, & Peterson, 2010). Avey, Luthans, and Youssef (2010) demonstrated the usefulness of positive psychological capital in envisaging behaviors and attitudes associated with job and showed that positive psychological capital positively relates to OCB. Qadeer and Jaffery (2014) observed psychological climate and OCB in Pakistan and found that positive psychological capital is positively associated with OCB. Teachers high in positive psychological capital will exhibit more OCBs.

Previous studies have established the buffering capacity of positive psychological capital in alleviating the influence of negative attitudes and emotions. For instance, Roberts, Scherer, and Bowyer (2011) revealed that positive psychological capital moderated the adverse effect of job stress on workplace incivility. Cheung, Tang, and Tang (2011) in their study found that positive relationship among surface acting on depersonalization as well as negative relationship with job satisfaction was weaker at high level of positive psychological capital. In a study by Shukla and Rai (2015), it was revealed that the strength of the association of perceived organizational support with organizational trust and organizational commitment was diminished with high level of positive psychological capital. In another study by Shaheen, Bukhari, and Adil (2016), it was demonstrated that relationship of perceived organizational support with OCB was moderated by positive psychological capital such that it diminished their positive association. By keeping in view that positive psychological capital is a positive resource, that can enhance OCB in teachers, it can moderate the relationship of extraversion and conscientiousness with OCB. In Pakistan, few studies have been conducted to examine the moderating effect of positive psychological capital on the association of personality factors of extraversion and conscientiousness with OCB. So there is a need to fill this gap.

1.1. Conceptual framework

1.2. Research hypotheses

Based on the above review of literature, following hypotheses are formulated:

Hypothesis 1: Extraversion and conscientiousness will positively predict OCB among university teachers.

Hypothesis 2: Psychological capital moderates the relationship between extraversion and OCB in university teachers such that it will attenuate the positive association of extraversion with OCB.

Hypothesis 3: Psychological capital moderates the relationship between conscientiousness and OCB amongst university teachers in such a way that high psychological capital will diminish their positive relationship.

2. Methodology

2.1. Participants

This study employed a cross sectional design using random sampling technique. For the current study the aim of using such design was that the researchers recorded information regarding the participants without any manipulations of the study environment. Four hundred and forty university teachers with a mean age of 34.59 years with SD = 6.68 participated in the study. Additionally, only regular teachers were included in the study. Visiting/Short term/ad hoc teachers were excluded from the study.

2.2. Demographic information

The sample (N = 440) included university teachers in which male (n = 240, 54.5%) and female (n = 200, 45.5%) were selected from public and private sector universities of four provinces of Pakistan. Age range of participants was 25–50 years. The qualification of the teachers was Masters, MS/MPhil and PhD. The designations of the participants were research associates, lecturers and assistant professors. Inclusion criteria for experience were 1 year.

2.3. Measures

Positive psychological capital was measured by 12 items scale developed by Luthans, Avolio, Avey, and Norman (2007). The responses have been enlisted on a 5 point ranged from 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, 5 = strongly agree. The Cronbach alpha reliability of the Positive psychological capital was .95 for the current study.

Extraversion was measured by the extraversion subscale of the big five inventory by John and Srivastava (1999) consisting of eight items. This subscale consisted of four reverse scored items. Response categories ranges from 1 to 5 with giving the score of 5 to “strongly agree”, 4 to “agree”, 3 to “neutral”, 2 to “disagree”, and 1 to “strongly disagree”. The reliability of this scale was .84 for the current study.

Conscientiousness was measured by the extraversion subscale of the big five inventory (John & Srivastava, 1999) consisting of 10 items. Two items were reverse scored. Response categories ranges from 1 to 5 with giving the score of 5 to “strongly agree”, 4 to “agree”, 3 to “neutral”, 2 to “disagree”, and 1 to “strongly disagree”. The reliability of this scale was .94 for the present study.

OCB was measured by the Modified version (Somech & Drach-Zahavy, 2004) of 13 items scale (Williams & Anderson, 1991). The coefficient alpha reliability was of .93 for the current study. The responses for each item were using a 5-point Likert scale on which 1 = rarely or none of the time; 2 = A little of the time; 3 = some of the time; 4 = A good part of the time; and 5 = Most or all of the time.

2.4. Procedure

University teachers were approached for data collection. Informed consent was taken from them. Confidentiality of the information was guaranteed by affirming to the teachers that the information taken from them will be used only for the purpose of research. Questionnaires were administered and after completion teachers were thanked for their involvement in study.

2.5. Statistical analyses

Descriptive analysis such as the means and standard deviations were calculated for the different scales to achieve the purpose of the study. Pearson product moment correlations were also calculated to find out the associations between the variables. For prediction, linear regression analysis was carried out. Furthermore, for moderation analysis, Process by Hayes (2013) was used in IBM SPSS (Armonk, New York, United States) version 23.

2.6. Ethical considerations

All procedures performed in the study are in accordance with the ethical standards. The selected teachers of the universities were invited to take part in the study. Informed consent was obtained from all teachers who took part in the study.

3. Results

The socio demographic variables are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Sociodemographic variables of the participants (N = 440)

Variables	f	%	Mean	SD	Range
Age			34.59	6.68	25–50
Experience			5.81	3.91	1–15
Gender
Male	240	54.5
Female	200	45.5
Marital status
Unmarried	140	26.8
Married	300	73.2
Qualification
Masters	47	13.9
M.Phil./MS	251	57.3
PhD	102	28.9
Designation
Research associate	45	10.2
Lecturer	241	54.8
Assistant professor	134	30
Associate professor	20	4.5

Table 2 shows the reliability of all scales is satisfactory. It also depicts that extraversion (r = .70, p < .01) and conscientiousness (r = .82, p < .01) are positively and significantly correlated with OCB.

Table 2. The descriptive results of the sample of the present investigation. Mean, alpha reliabilities, standard deviations and correlations of study variables (N = 440)

Variables	No. of items	α	M	SD	1	2	3	4
1. Extraversion	8	.84	24.13	7.09	–	.80**	.72**	.70**
2. Conscientiousness	9	.94	30.05	9.82	–	–	.86**	.82**
3. Psy Cap	12	.95	42.15	12.55	–	–	–	.88**
4. OCB	13	.93	44.86	12.26	–	–	–	–

**p < .01, Psy Cap = positive psychological capital, OCB = organizational citizenship behavior.

Table 3 shows that conscientiousness (β = .74, p < .01) and extraversion (β = .11, p < .05) predicts organizational citizenship behavior significantly and positively. It is concluded that conscientiousness and extraversion added 68% additional variance in predicting OCB.

Table 3. Extraversion and conscientiousness as predictor of OCB of university teachers (N = 440)

Predictors	Organizational citizenship behavior
	B	SE (B)	β
Conscientiousness	.92	.06	.74**
Extraversion	.19	.08	.11**

R² = .68, F = 471.13, **p < .01.

Table 4 shows that positive psychological capital moderates the relationship of extraversion with OCB (B = −.03, p < .01, ∆R² = .03). Positive psychological capital adds 3% variance in relationship of extraversion with OCB.

Table 4. Moderation of positive psychological capital on the relationship of extraversion and conscientiousness with OCB (N = 440)

Predictors	Organizational citizenship behavior
	B	∆F	∆R^2
Extraversion		58	.03**
Psy Cap	1.23**
Extraversion	1.32**
(Extraversion) × (Psy Cap)	−.03**
Conscientiousness		56.46	.02**
Psy Cap	1.09**
Conscientiousness	1.12**
(Conscientiousness) × (Psy Cap)	−.02**

Notes: Psy Cap = positive psychological capital, **p < .01.

Table 4 further shows that positive psychological capital moderates the relationship between conscientiousness and OCB (B = −.02, p < .01, ∆R² = .02). It is concluded that the positive psychological capital adds 2% variance in the relationship of conscientiousness with OCB.

4. Discussion

The present study observed the effect of personality traits of extraversion and conscientiousness on OCB among university teachers. Furthermore, positive psychological capital has been studied as moderator on the relationship of extraversion and conscientiousness with OCB. First hypothesis was that extraversion and conscientiousness will positively predict OCB, which has been supported by the findings of the current study. This is in line with the investigation by Kumar, Bakhshi, and Rani (2009), who have concluded that the strong predictors of OCB are the personality traits of conscientiousness, openness and agreeableness. The current research findings have also been supported by the study of Rashidi and Tafreshi (2015) which revealed that extraversion and conscientiousness predict OCB (in positive way). It means that the individuals scoring high on extraversion and conscientiousness show flexible behaviors and make them more probable to perform OCB. Our findings are also in line with the investigation by Mushraf, Al-Saqry, and Obaid (2015) that showed that the personality factors of conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and openness to experience have a direct substantial effect (positive) on OCB. Extraverts are prone to have positive emotions (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and such kind of emotionality more probably relates to job performance. Also, teachers having personality traits of systematic, organized, achievement-oriented, punctual and reliable (conscientiousness) are cooperating and helping with others. Their dedication with job is more and they are at work extensively. This might happens because of their trait of achievement orientation. They tolerate troublesomeness and they emphasize on problem prevention and they are taking necessary steps in order to reduce the effects of problems in future.

The second hypothesis was regarding the moderation of positive psychological capital on the association of extraversion with OCB. It has also been supported by the results of current study. Table 4 shows that the interaction term of extraversion and psychological capital related to OCB is negative. It means that high positive psychological capital dampens the positive association of extraversion with OCB. It can be seen in Figure 2 that at low level of psychological capital, with increase in teacher’s extraversion OCB is increasing. At the moderate level of psychological capital, with the increase in extraversion there is also an increase in OCB. But at high level of psychological capital, the level of extraversion is not a substantial effect on OCB. Same relationship was found in a study by Shaheen et al. (2016), which showed that high positive psychological capital is diminishing the positive association among perceived organizational support and OCB.

Figure 1. Conceptual framework of study

Figure 2. High positive psychological capital dampening the positive association of extraversion with OCB.

The third hypothesis was regarding the moderating effect of positive psychological capital on the relationship of conscientiousness with OCB. The results also support this hypothesis. Table 4 shows that the interaction term of conscientiousness and psychological capital related to OCB is negative. It depicts that high level of positive psychological capital diminished the positive relationship of conscientiousness and OCB. It can be observed in Figure 3 that at low level of psychological capital, with increase in teacher’s conscientiousness OCB is increasing. At the moderate level of psychological capital, with the increase in conscientiousness there is also an increase in OCB. But with high level of psychological capital the effect of conscientiousness on OCB has decreased. Similar result was also found in a study by Shaheen et al. (2016), which revealed that high level of positive psychological capital weakened the positive association of perceived organizational support with OCB.

Figure 3. High positive psychological capital is diminishing the positive association of conscientiousness with OCB.

The study aimed to assess the relationship of extraversion and conscientiousness with OCB and the moderating effect of positive psychological capital therein. We found that extraversion and conscientiousness were positively associated with OCB. But when the moderating variable (positive psychological capital) was introduced in the interaction term, the relationship of extraversion and conscientiousness with OCB became negative. In general, it can be deduced that the relationship between predictor and criterion variable has weaken with the increase in the level of moderating variable. Therefore, the finding confirmed attenuating effect of moderating variable (positive psychological capital). Similar kind of moderating effect has been previously reported (Brockner, Siegel, Daly, Tyler, & Martin, 1997).

The mitigating effect of positive psychological capital can be interpreted in the context of this study. We can say that the impact of extraversion and conscientiousness over OCB declines with the increase in individual’s positive psychological capital. In other words, positive psychological capital reduces the dependence on extraversion and conscientiousness traits as far as the development of the aforesaid attitudinal outcome (OCB) is concerned. The effect of extraversion and conscientiousness trait is counterbalanced by teachers’ positive psychological capital (Aube, Rousseau, & Morin, 2007). Positive psychological capital buffers the effect of extraversion and conscientiousness on OCB.

4.1. Practical implications

The present study has several implications for university personnel along with employers. Nowadays in the modern world, universities are in a continuous competition with each other for quality education, research and sustained survival. Managers and employers should make a focus on selection of teachers with personality traits that positively influence job outcomes like OCB. So teachers who are more extravert and are more conscientious, will engage more in OCB, which will be beneficial for the university.

Being a state-like concept, positive psychological capital is malleable, that is, open to change and improvement. An empirical study (Luthans et al., 2010) showed that positive psychological capital can be improved with certain specific training interventions (termed as “positive psychological capital intervention” or PCI). PCI included successions of group discussions and exercises which were planned to influence level of efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience of participants. A comparison between control and experiment group revealed that positive psychological capital improved considerably and the process also had a positive effect on the job performance. Hence, universities can be benefited by conducting such training programs to protect and nurture their human capital.

4.2. Limitations of the study

There are some shortcomings of this study. The present investigation used cross sectional design. Another drawback is the use of self-report measures in which there is issue of social desirability.

5. Conclusion

The current research focused on the effect of personality traits of extraversion and conscientiousness on OCB among university teachers. Furthermore, interactive effect of extraversion and positive psychological capital on OCB was studied. Also, interactive effect of conscientiousness and positive psychological capital on OCB was examined. The findings showed that extraversion and conscientiousness significantly and positively predicted OCB. Also, positive psychological capital attenuated the positive relation of extraversion and conscientiousness with OCB. Furthermore, positive psychological capital diminished the positive relation of conscientiousness with OCB. The findings of the study show that the traits of extraversion and conscientiousness in teacher’s personality are important for the occurrence of OCB. Also, high positive psychological capital reduces the dependence of OCB on the personality traits of extraversion and conscientiousness.

6. Recommendations

It is recommended that, to study causal relationships longitudinal study may be conducted in future. Other personnel of the university may also be included in the future studies. Some other factors like social support, perceived organizational support and socio-cultural factors (i.e. collectivism/individualism) may be used as moderators in the future studies.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Acknowledgements

The authors thanked to the subjects who voluntarily took part and helped to carry out the study.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Noman Aftab

Noman Aftab is senior lecturer and coordinator in Department of Psychology, University of Wah, Wah Cantt Pakistan since 11 January 2007. He has done MS in Psychology from International Islamic University, Islamabad Pakistan. He is pursuing his PhD from Department of Psychology International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan. Currently, he is teaching behavior analysis & management and applied statistics at undergraduate level at University of Wah, Wah Cantt.