Understanding organisational citizenship behaviour among healthcare personnel: The roles of organisational justice, affective commitment, and passive leadership

Orientation: Organisational citizenship behaviour is crucial for increasing organisational effectiveness, particularly in healthcare settings. Research purpose: This research analyses the influence of two forms of organisational justice on OCB among healthcare workers. Affective commitment is used as a mediating variable, while passive leadership acts as a moderating variable. Motivation for the study: Previous research has demonstrated the critical role of organisational justice in OCB, but empirical evidence that specifically explains how procedural and distributive justice influence OCB through affective commitment, particularly in healthcare, is lacking. Research approach/design and method: This research employed a quantitative approach with a positivist paradigm. Data were collected by using a survey with a questionnaire from 400 hospital employees. Analysis was conducted by using Structural Equation Modelling Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS). Main findings: The results indicate that procedural justice has a direct effect on OCB, while distributive justice has only an indirect effect through affective commitment. Affective commitment proved to be a significant mediator in the relationship between organisational justice and OCB. Passive leadership was found to negatively moderate the effect of organisational justice on affective commitment. Practical/managerial implications: Hospitals need to ensure the implementation of fair procedures, transparent distribution of resources, and implement proactive leadership to increase employee emotional engagement and encourage OCB. Contribution/value-add: This research provides theoretical contributions by confirming the role of affective commitment as a mediating mechanism in the relationship between organisational justice and OCB and demonstrating the moderating effect of passive leadership.