This chapter demonstrates the results of data analysis in order to examine the relationships among grit, organizational identification, and OCB. The descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis were presented to test the hypotheses proposed in this study: (1) Grit will influence organizational citizenship behavior and (2) The relationship between grit and organizational citizenship behavior is moderated by organizational identification.
Descriptive Statistics
Participants of this study were hotel employees from four-star and five-star hotels in Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 300 responses was collected, but 12 were incomplete responses.
Therefore, 288 responses were used for analysis, yielding a 96.0% response rate. The demographic information which was collected from the sample were: age, gender, and tenure.
Results of descriptive statistics, including the frequency and percentage of the demographic information of the samples, are provided in Table 4.1. The respondents consisted of 224 females (77.8%) and 64 males (22.2%). Among them, less than 25 years old represented 38 respondents (13.2%), employees with 25-30 years old represented 202 respondents (70.1%), employees with 31-35 years old represented 42 respondents (14.6%), and above 35 years old represented 6 respondents (2.1%). The respondents mostly worked in the hotel industry for 4 to 6 years (40.3%) and 1 to 3 years (25.3%).
Table 4.1.
Participants Demographic Statistics (N = 288)
Variable Category Frequency Percentage (%)
Gender Female 224 77.8
Correlation Analysis
Results of correlation analysis of all the variables and the reliability of all the measurements are provided in Table 4.2. For the reliability analysis, Cronbach’s alpha of three measurements are greater than 0.7 (Cronbach’s Alpha for the scale of grit = .952; Cronbach’s Alpha for the scale of organizational identification = .901; Cronbach’s Alpha for the scale of OCB = .887) which is the accepted value of Cronbach’s Alpha (Nunnally, 1978)
According to Table 4.2., all variables have a positive relationship with each other and have correlations ranging from 0.623 to 0.724 (p < .01).
Specifically, there was a significant positive relationship between grit and organizational identification (r = 0.623, p < .01) and also between grit and OCB (r = 0.716, p
< .01). Moreover, the results shown that organizational identification was significantly and positively related to OCB (r = 0.724, p < .01).
Table 4.2.
Mean, Standard Deviations, Correlations, and Reliability Coefficients (N = 288)
Note. *p < .05, **p < .01
Code. Gender: 1 = Male; 2 = Female; Age: Continuous variable; Tenure: Continuous variable
Hierarchical Regression Analysis
This study examined the moderation effect of organizational identification on the relationship between grit and OCB by using hierarchical regression. Firstly, control variables were entered, and then the independent variable and moderator as the main effect were placed in the next step. The last step entered an interaction effect between the independent variable and moderator to predict the dependent variable.
Variables Mean SD
Hypothesis 1 proposed that grit will influence OCB. According to Table 4.3., the results of the regression analysis in step 2 demonstrated that 65% of the total variance of OCB was explained by grit and organizational identification (F = 104.949, p < .001). Grit positively and significantly predicted OCB (β = .442, p < .001). Therefore, Hypothesis 1 that proposed grit will influence OCB was supported.
Also, Table 4.3. has shown the hierarchical regression results of the moderating effect of organizational identification between grit and OCB. Refer to the step 3; the results presented that the interaction terms in hierarchical regression analysis added a significant incremental variance for step 3 (∆𝑅#= .007, p < .05) and that “Grit × Organizational Identification”
significantly predicted OCB (β = -.098, p < .05). Therefore, organizational identification has a moderating effect on the relationship between grit and OCB, and Hypothesis 2 was supported.
Table 4.3.
Result of Regression Analysis of Grit and OCB, Organizational Identification (N = 288)
Variables 𝛽
Organizational Identification .457*** .444***
(Step 3)
Grit x Organizational Identification -.098*
F 1.013 104.949*** 89.863***
Figure 4.1. Interaction plot for the moderating effect of organizational identification
Discussions
The main object of the present study is to investigate the relationship between grit, organizational identification, and OCB on the hotel employees from four-star and five-star hotels in Bangkok, Thailand. In this section, the results of all hypotheses are discussed. A summary of the hypothesis testing result is shown in Table 4.4.
Table 4.4.
Hypotheses Testing Results Summary
Hypotheses Result
H1 Grit will influence organizational citizenship behavior. Supported H2 The relationship between grit and organizational citizenship
behavior is moderated by organizational identification.
Supported
Positive Effect of Grit
The present study provides support for the relationship between grit and OCB in a sample of 288 hotel employees from four-star and five-star hotels in Bangkok, Thailand. The results indicate that grit significantly and positively predicts OCB. Therefore, employees with a high level of grit are more likely to perform extra-role behaviors than those with a low level of grit. It was explained by the fact that gritty employees do not give up to any circumstances and maintain their effort, for example, when their job required them to perform the duties, which not be included in the job description, gritty employees are prone to perform more extra-role behaviors in their work because they may perceive that the extra-extra-role behaviors have challenges and contributions to organizational success which have long-term impacts to them.
This finding in the relationship between grit and OCB is consistent with previous studies, the study by Ion et al. (2017) whose research was done on the working adults in Romania revealed grit could predict the organizational outcome, namely, OCB, CWB, and job satisfaction. Moreover, the results are congruent with Lee et al. (2018) by investigating the South Korean workers found that gritty workers are likely to perform more in extra-role behavior.
As suggested by the JD-R model (Xanthopoulou et al., 2007), personal resource has similar potential as job resources to predict organizational outcomes. In this term, personal resources represented to characteristics of the self that are linked to resilience and the ability to handle and have an effect on the environment (Hobfoll et al., 2003). Grit can be considered as one of the personal resources, and OCB also can be considered as desirable organizational outcomes. Therefore, it is logical to find a positive relationship between grit and OCB, as reported in this study.
Moderating Effect of Organizational Identification
The second finding of this study potentially explains the significance of the moderating effect of organizational identification on grit to OCB. The results are congruent with the previous studies that organizational identification can moderate psychological factors-OCB relationships. The results are in line with the research of Van Dick et al. (2008), in which the relationship between job satisfaction and OCB was positively stronger when the employee identified himself/herself more with the organization or the group which they belong to. Also, Vondey (2010) found that organizational identification can strengthen the relationship between servant leadership and OCB. Although all the previous studies have never done to study on
grit, all the psychological factors above are the personal resources, and the trait of grit is also one of them. Therefore, the present study extended the moderating effect of organizational identification on personal resources to the organizational outcome.
The moderating effect of organizational identification on grit to OCB could be explained by the Social Identity Theory (SIT) that highly identified employees perceived their self-concept related to organizational success (Turner & Tajfel, 1986). Also, employees who identify themselves with the company are likely to dedicate and maintain their effort to the organization (Baruch & Cohen, 2007). Hence, the more employees can identify with their organization, the more extra-role behaviors they perform in which this finding found that not only organizational identification directly affects OCB, but the positive or negative identification between the employee and the organization also can change the strength of a relationship between personal resources and OCB.