Factors Influencing Service-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behaviour among Salespersons in the Banking Sector

Abstract

This paper discusses the variables that mediate Service-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (SOOCB) with salespersons in Malaysia banking sector with regard to Empowering Leadership, Job Satisfaction and Service Climate. Since the banking industry is turning to more service-oriented and competitive, one would want to know what drives the employees to do more than their usual job description to deliver outstanding customer service. The primary goal of the study is to explore the relationships between these organisational and individual factors and voluntary service-oriented behaviours of the employees contributing to the enhancement of the quality of services and customer satisfaction. The quantitative research design was used, and 250 salespersons working in six major local banks based in Klang Valley, Malaysia were used to collect data using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire contained developed measurement scales borrowed out of past researchers. The statistical package that was used in data analysis was the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), which performed the following data analysis, descriptive, reliability, correlation, and regression analyses. The reliability scores indicated a high internal consistency in all the measurement scales where Cronbach alpha had a value of 0.928 to 0.960. The results indicate that Empowering Leadership (b 0.620, p < 0.01) and Job Satisfaction (b 0.276, p < 0.01) significantly positively affected SO-OCB. But Service Climate (b = -0.060, p < 0.01) was not significant in its prediction. These findings indicate that empowerment of employees by leaders and promotion of job satisfaction leads to increased service-oriented citizenship behaviours. Service climate by itself, however, might not have a direct effect on these behaviours in the banking sector. The research provides theoretical and practical input. It enriches the current knowledge on service and relationship marketing and offers great information to managers on how to improve service performance. Particularly, it has been pointed out that empowering leadership practices and high job satisfaction should be adopted to enhance customer service results. Lastly, the study considers some limitations and recommends future studies.