Age and gender effects on organisational citizenship behaviour at selected academic institutions in South Africa

M.Com. (Business Management)Abstract: Organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) has become an important source of organisational performance given its voluntary nature. The current literature on organisational citizenship behaviour, the changing demographics of the South African populace coupled with slow economic growth and an increase in social movements such as the “Fees Must Fall “protests, suggest that academic institutions will benefit from a better understanding of organisational citizenship behaviour as well as a better understanding of the influence of age and gender and how this understanding can be harnessed to increase their performance. The purpose of the study was to investigate the differences in expression of OCB at academic institutions in South Africa across two age groups; younger staff (younger than 35 years) and older staff (35 years or older) and across two gender roles (males and females). It was hypothesised that age has an effect on organisational citizenship behaviour by way of worker experience and gender role respectively. Using the survey methodology, data was collected from 138 professional (teaching and non-teaching) staff of seven South African academic institutions of higher learning. Relationships between age, gender and OCB were tested using Pearson’s chi-square tests. The results suggest that age is related to the organisational citizenship behaviour dimensions of altruism, conscientiousness and courtesy but not civic virtue and sportsmanship with older workers reporting higher levels of altruism, conscientiousness and courtesy. Gender was determined to be related to some aspects of conscientiousness, sportsmanship and civic virtue but not altruism and courtesy with males reporting higher levels of conscientiousness and sportsmanship and females reporting higher levels of civic virtue. The findings suggest that age and gender determine the types and levels of organisational citizenship behaviour that are expressed at academic institutions through biological age, career experience and gender roles. The findings are significant for promoting organisational performance at academic institutions by contributing to an understanding of this construct and empowering management in making informed decisions where selection of staff for voluntary..