PhD (Human Resource Management) / Department of Human Resource Management and Labour Relations / Globally, the economic, political and social environment is constantly changing, and this has
posed various challenges for organisations in the world of work. South African universities
have also not been spared from these changes as they are expected to meet international
standards whilst operating in an environment where there are many changes in their work
environment with regard to technology, language policy, decolonisation of the curriculum and
globalisation. The dynamics in these aspects shape the organisational climate and
psychological contracts of all institutions. Any changes in the organisational climate and
psychological contracts may influence employee outcomes of organisational citizenship
behaviour and intention to leave among employees. Therefore, this study responds to calls
from previous studies on organisational climate and psychological contract research to
investigate the role of moderators in their association with employee outcomes. There is an
urgent demand for organisational leaders to practice ethical leadership and become
trustworthy in order to inspire employees to exhibit organisational citizenship behaviour and
reduce any intentions of leaving the organisation.
The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between organisational climate,
psychological contract breach and employee outcomes among university employees. It also
further investigated the moderating roles of ethical leadership and trust on those
relationships. Six objectives were developed based on the aims of the study. To answer the
objectives of this study, the research followed cross-sectional design and a quantitative
approach was adopted. A total of 202 employees were selected through stratified random
sampling to participate in the study and a self- administered questionnaire was used to
collect the data. The sample was made up of both academic and administration staff working
in the universities. Item analysis was conducted to check the reliability of the scales and all
the scales obtained acceptable Cronbach alphas. To explore the factor structure of the
scales, exploratory factor analysis was conducted, and poor items were removed until a
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clear and desirable factor solution was obtained. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted
to validate the data and all the goodness of fit indexes achieved the required level. In
addition, the composite reliability and average variance extracted for all scales met the
required level.
Moderated multiple regression analysis was conducted to measure the moderator roles of
ethical leadership and trust in the organisational climate, psychological contract breach and
employee outcomes relationships. The results showed that ethical leadership moderated the
relationship between organisational climate and organisational citizenship behaviour (Δ R² =
.078, F(3,148) = 8.994. p <.001, β = .285, p < .001); and also the relationship between
psychological contract breach and organisational citizenship behaviour (Δ R² = .056,
F(3,148) = 7.373, β = -.247, p < .005). However, non-significant results were found when
testing the moderating role of ethical leadership in the relationship between organisational
climate and intention to leave (Δ R² =.000, F(3,148) = 6.275, β =.000, p >.005); and also in
the relationship between psychological contract breach and intention to leave (Δ R² = 0.03,
F(3.148) = 12.878, β =.055, p > .05). In addition, the results also revealed that trust
moderated the relationship between organisational climate and organisational citizenship
behaviour (Δ R² =.030, F(3, 148) = 6.521, β =.175, p < .01); and also the relationship
between psychological contract breach and organisational citizenship behaviour (Δ R² =.049,
F(3.148) = 7.719, β = -.222, p < .001). However, non-significant results were also found in
testing trust as moderator in the relationship between organisational climate and intention to
leave (Δ R² =.001, F(3,148) = 10.373, β = -.022, p > .01); and also in the relationship
between psychological contract breach and intention to leave (Δ R² = 014, F(3, 148) =
17.207, β =.120, , p > .05).
The results provides sufficient evidence that organisational climate, psychological contract
breach, ethical leadership, and trust can shape employee behavioural outcomes either
positively or negatively. This study, therefore recommends that organisations should develop
a strong and positive organisational climate in order to improve organisational citizenship
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behaviour and reduce employees` intentions to leave the organisation. This is achievable
with policies that speak to effective communication structure, job recognition, and career
development paths. In addition, human resources managers are urged to prevent cases of
psychological contract breach through providing employees with realistic overviews of the
task to be performed and policy that can aid employees to air their grievances. The study
further recommends the establishment of ethical corporate culture within the organisations
through which only employees who meet the ethical standards of the organisation are
promoted into leadership positions in order to improve the practice of organisational
citizenship behaviour and in turn reduce employees` intention to leave the organisation. / NRF
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:univen/oai:univendspace.univen.ac.za:11602/1422 |
| Date | 20 September 2019 |
| Creators | Terera, Sharon Ruvimbo |
| Contributors | Babalola, Sunday Samson, Ochara, Nixon Muganda |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (ix, 161 leaves : color illustrations) |
| Rights | University of Venda |
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