Investigating the effect of Hofstede's cultural dimensions on organizational citizenship behavior, focusing on organizational commitment as a moderating variable

Dissertation to receive master's degree thesis

Dissertation abstract (including summary, objectives, implementation methods and results obtained)

Today, positive behaviors beyond the role, under the title "Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)" have been considered, in research, several variables such as job satisfaction, organizational justice, organizational culture, leadership style, etc., have been identified in the possibility of organizational citizenship behavior, which in this article examines the relationship between cultural dimensions. Hofstede and the organizational citizenship behavior of employees of gas transmission company (region 9) have been discussed, it should be noted that in this article, organizational commitment is a moderating variable. Based on the method of data collection, the current research is a descriptive research, and in terms of the relationships between variables, it is a correlational research. Among the statistical population of 486 employees of the mentioned company, 214 cases were selected as a statistical sample and then by collecting the required data using the standard questionnaires of Podsakoff (organizational citizenship behavior), Madavi (organizational commitment) and Yarahamdi (Hofstede's cultural dimensions), the five hypotheses of the research were tested by regression analysis using SPSS software, and the relationships between the variables in the conceptual model of the research were tested by the path analysis model using Lisrel software. The results of which showed that the model has a good fit in the real world and there is a significant relationship between all cultural aspects of Hofstede with organizational citizenship commitment and behavior. At the end of the article, in the form of summary, discussion, conclusion, several suggestions are presented regarding the applications of the mentioned results in the real world as well as the continuation and follow-up of similar research in the future.

Key words: cultural dimensions of Hofstede, organizational citizenship behavior, organizational commitment

Introduction:

Completely changing conditions governing organizations, increasing competition and the necessity of their effectiveness in such conditions, their need for a valuable generation of employees more than has already revealed Undoubtedly, these employees can distinguish effective organizations from ineffective ones (Ramin Mehr et al., 2018). Studying the behavior of employees in work environments has long been the focus of management science thinkers. Topics such as perception, motivation, job attitudes, culture, organizational atmosphere, etc. Among the cases that investigate many human behaviors in the workplace, but the debate that has been raised in the last two decades and has attracted the attention of social psychologists and sociologists in addition to behaviorists, is organizational citizenship behavior [1] (OCB) (Amini et al., 2016).

Organizational researchers call efforts that go beyond the defined duties of employees as organizational citizenship behavior. The importance of such behaviors is so much that some researchers in this area have been motivated to seek to know its drivers (Alizadeh et al., 2018, 28). In the research, several variables such as job satisfaction, organizational justice, organizational culture, personality, leadership style, etc., have been identified in the probability of organizational citizenship behavior.

Evidences and proofs indicate the fact that organizational culture is considered a fundamental precondition for strengthening and cultivating organizational citizenship behavior (Alizadeh and Shahrani, 2017). In the past twenty years, organizational culture has received special attention from experts, and hundreds of researchers have started researching about organizational culture and have written many books and articles (Andarkhawa and Safaei, 2013). In the research that has been presented about culture, almost all (98.8%) have emphasized its importance and influence on organizational behavior and human resource management issues (Aliyun, 2017, 5). Based on this, various models have been presented by researchers and experts to recognize and examine organizational culture, among which Hofstede's four-dimensional model is one of them. Hofstede[2] (1998) states that management and organizations are under the influence of culture from the beginning to the end.

In this section, after describing and stating the research topic, the importance of the topic and the motivation for choosing it will be examined in detail. Then, the main purpose of the research, the theoretical framework, the research assumptions, and the conceptual model of the research will be presented. At the end, the definitions of the main variables of the research, the scope of the research and its limitations are mentioned.

Description and statement of the problem

Today, measuring the behavior of people in the work environment and the organization with the aim of achieving a type of individual behavior that contributes to the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization has attracted the attention of researchers, because the organization is not able to develop its effectiveness without the willingness of employees to cooperate. Organizations need employees who strive beyond the formal and legal requirements of their job (Sebhani Nejad et al., 2018, 9). What is evident in the management literature today is that organizations need employees with the desire to move beyond the formal requirements of the job (Morrison, 1994). Positive behaviors beyond the role have been taken into consideration under the title of "organizational citizenship behavior" and neglecting them in evaluating the performance of employees is not acceptable, because organizations have become aware of the need for voluntary, self-aware, and long-term participation of individuals in order to achieve organizational goals (Kakhki and Qalipour, 2016).

Organizations have popularized the concept of organizational citizenship behavior in order to achieve efficiency and effectiveness and have expanded such behaviors in public and private organizations, so Nowadays, the study of organizational citizenship behavior has become a fundamental issue in organizations (Garg & Renu, 2006, 529). Organizational citizenship behavior is desirable for any organization because it is related to important organizational variables such as: job satisfaction, system maintenance and organizational productivity. The results of studies show that managers can foster organizational citizenship behavior by creating and improving a positive work environment (Turnipseed & Murkison, 1996). Over the past two decades, many researches have been conducted in order to find the underlying factors of organizational citizenship behavior. During this time, researchers have been trying to show the factors that strengthen organizational citizenship behavior (Barbuto et al, 2001). Knowing the underlying and related factors of citizenship behavior is important because by identifying those factors, the organization can take measures to strengthen them, and in this way, the possibility of more and better exploitation of the consequences of organizational citizenship behavior is provided (Sebahanijad, 2019, 68). In the research, several variables such as job satisfaction, organizational justice, organizational culture, personality, leadership style, etc., have been identified in the probability of the occurrence of organizational citizenship behavior. In this research, we examine the organizational culture (Hofstede's cultural dimensions) and its effect on the occurrence of organizational citizenship behavior.

Today, one of the most controversial topics in various forums, especially in the so-called growing societies, is organizational culture. This word contains a concept that has had a deep impact on the lives of individuals and societies, and on the other hand, it has a direct relationship with the thinking and performance of office workers (Anderkhora and Safai, 2013, 2). Paying attention to culture at the level of the organization and society is not a new issue, but its value and importance have been given more attention for several decades and many thinkers have done research in this field. In the field of management and organization science, many thinkers have sought comprehensive definitions for it, as well as explaining its relationship with the organizational structure and, as a result, explaining the characteristics and elements of organizational culture and its effect on the behavior of the organization's people (same source). The statistical analysis he conducted on the similar values ??of employees in these 50 countries revealed common problems, but the solutions differed from one country to another in these fields. He proposed the root of these differences in the cultural differences of these countries in the form of a four-dimensional model, which dimensions are: power distance (from low to high), collectivism vs. individualism, feminism vs. masculinism, and ambiguity avoidance (Arabi et al., 2018, 30). In organizations with a strong culture, the members of the organization are fully aware of the missions and goals of the organization and are committed to them. In addition, there is a necessary alignment between the goals of the employees, the organization and the management, in this case, the employees believe that the maximization of their interests depends on the maximization of organizational interests, this will be a positive factor in the direction of organizational performance and its better effectiveness, in addition, the emergence of positive behavioral consequences from employees, including organizational citizenship behavior, will be one of the important and noteworthy results of such a strong organizational culture (Sabhaninejad et al., 2019, 89).