Organisational citizenship behaviour in the healthcare workplace: a scoping review

Abstract

Organisational citizenship behaviours can be defined as positive behaviours performed by individuals within an organisation that are not part of their contractual duties. Healthcare services require organisational citizenship behaviours to meet the demand for patient-centred, cost-effective and high-quality care against a background of increasing complexity and growing competition. This review systematically discusses organisational citizenship behaviours and their related variables across healthcare settings and providers, including how they are perceived, as well as mediating variables and outcomes. A scoping review was used to explore the literature using the framework developed in 2005 by Arksey and O'Malley. A total of 26 studies were identified, most of which were conducted in Asia and the Middle East. The majority of the studies (n=16) reported a high level of organisational citizenship behaviours. The pre-requisites of organisational citizenship behaviours were categorised into two themes: organisation and leadership characteristics, and employee and task characteristics. The review showed 10 outcomes of organisational citizenship behaviours, the most studied of which was social capital. Organisational citizenship behaviours have significant correlations and prediction effects with a wide range of variables, including those around the organisation, leadership, employees and tasks. There is sufficient literature for a more focused systematic review to be conducted in future..