Psychological Capital as a Mediating Mechanism Between Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Employee Engagement Among Healthcare Sector Employees
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Abstract
Purpose: Discretionary employee behavior and psychological resources are increasingly recognized as central to sustaining workforce engagement in high-pressure pharmaceutical and healthcare work settings. This study examines whether Psychological Capital (PsyCap) mediates the relationship between Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) and Employee Engagement (EE) among employees working in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector.
Methodology: A quantitative, cross-sectional survey design was adopted. Data were collected from 200 employees working in pharmaceutical and healthcare organizations using a structured questionnaire built on validated scales and a five-point Likert format. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to assess the measurement and structural models, and a bootstrapping procedure was applied to test the mediating role of PsyCap.
Findings: OCB exerted a positive and statistically significant direct effect on EE (β = 0.766, t = 14.644, p < 0.001). However, PsyCap did not significantly mediate the OCB–EE relationship (β = 0.014, t = 0.545, p = 0.585); neither the OCB→PsyCap path (β = 0.218, p = 0.260) nor the PsyCap→EE path (β = 0.064, p = 0.494) reached significance. The pattern is best described as direct-only, non-mediating.
Practical Implications: Healthcare and pharmaceutical organizations seeking to strengthen workforce engagement should prioritize cultivating discretionary, citizenship-oriented behavior directly through recognition systems, supportive supervision, and role modeling, while continuing to invest in psychological resource-building initiatives (resilience, hope, optimism, self-efficacy training) as a parallel rather than sequential retention strategy.
Originality/value: The study extends the positive-organizational-behavior literature by testing an integrated OCB - PsyCap - EE model within the pharmaceutical/healthcare context, a sector marked by acute turnover and burnout pressures, and offers empirical evidence that qualifies the assumed universality of PsyCap's mediating role in behavior–engagement pathways
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