Impact of Perceived Organizational Support on OCB in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic in Hungary: Employee Engagement and Affective Commitment as Mediators

Abstract

The performance of the employees and productivity of each individual, in general, have been badly affected because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizational citizenship behavior is regarded as an interpretation of the performance of the employee which is essential to contribute more to the organization’s processes and success. Therefore, to increase the organizational effectiveness and achieve its goals, it is crucial to understand the factors affecting the organizational citizenship behavior of the employees. This study aims to examine the impact of perceived organizational support on organizational citizenship behavior with the mediating role of employee engagement and affective commitment. To collect the data for this study, a linear snowball sampling method was used, and 380 foreign employees working in different service companies in Hungary participated in the survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed hypothesis. The results of the study revealed that perceived organizational support positively associated with organizational citizenship behavior and this relationship is also strongly mediated by employee engagement. On the other hand, employee engagement and affective commitment pose a direct positive influence on organizational citizenship behavior. This study has theoretical and practical implications as it will provide a comprehensive framework to better understand the factors influencing the organizational citizenship behavior of the employees.