Investigation of organizational citizenship behavior, organizational silence and employee performance at physicians and nurses, and the relationship among them

Abstract

Background: Organizational citizenship behavior and organizational silence are among the factors which affect employee performance in organizations.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine organizational citizenship behavior, organizational silence, employee performance among physicians and nurses, and the evaluation of the relationship between them.

Methods: The population of this cross-sectional study comprised doctors and nurses (N = 742) working in Cumhuriyet University, Health Services Research and Application Hospital, and the number of the participants in the sample was determined to be 317 people (43%). The study data were collected between July 2011 and December 2011 using the personal information form, Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale, Organizational Silence Scale and Employee Performance Scale. Of the participants in the study, 52.4% were physicians and 47.6% were nurses. In the study, it was determined that the nurses exhibited more altruism, courtesy, conscientiousness and total Organizational Citizenship Behavior (p <0.01), and greater performance (p <0.05) than did the faculty physicians. It was also determined that assistant physicians displayed acquiescent silence, defensive silence and total organizational silence (p<0,01) more than did the nurses.

Findings: In the study, the relationship between the organizational citizenship behavior, organizational silence and employee performance was tested and the relationship was considered to be statistically significant.

Implications: While there was a positive significant relationship between the employee performance and the conscientiousness, civic virtue and altruism dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior, the relationship between the employee performance and the courtesy dimension of organizational citizenship was not significant. While a positive significant relationship was observed between the employee performance and prosocial silence, it was determined that acquiescent silence or defensive silence did not significantly contribute to the employee performance.