Organizational citizenship behaviour: An empirical investigation of the impact of age and job satisfaction on Ghanaian industrial workers

The study aims to examine the extent to which age and job satisfaction levels were predictive of organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB). From a practical perspective, understanding age- and job satisfaction-related participation in OCB would benefit management’s decisions regarding workers’ adaptability, general work effectiveness and the effective handling of demographic-dependant organizational characteristics. Members of the sample were 320 Ghanaian industrial workers.

Data were collected by cross-sectional self-reports. The internal consistency reliability was tested with Cronbach’s alpha. A one-way ANOVA and post-hoc analyses were used to compare the mean scores of the four age-cohorts. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to test the main and interaction effects of age and job satisfaction on OCB. A two-way interaction effect of age and job satisfaction on OCB was produced and illustrated graphically.

Both independent variables were predictive of OCB. Age was a significant predictor of OCB in this sample. In contrast to Western studies, older workers were more active in citizenship behaviours than their younger counterparts. The data also indicated job satisfaction to be a significant predictor of citizenship behaviours. Compared to older workers, younger workers’ citizenship behaviours were significantly influenced by job satisfaction. Results were interpreted in the context of East/West cultural values, with special emphasis on Ghanaian cultural influences on OCB. Implications of the findings are discussed.

The study explored for the first time, the joint impact of age and job satisfaction on citizenship behaviours.