Positivity at the Workplace: Organisational Citizenship Behaviour as a Mediator of the Transformational Leadership - Employee Turnover Dyad

Employee turnover is a costly affair, as it can cost up to five times more to hire a new employee than to maintain a current one. Although previous studies highlight transformational leadership as a means to reduce employee turnover, there are insufficient studies that examine the mediating effect of organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) in this framework. OCB are positive behaviours by an individual that are not part of his or her contractual obligations nor job description. Due to this, there are no expectations whatsoever for the employee to behave in such a way, nor are there punishments for not doing so. In line with this, a lack of studies examine how leaders trigger these helpful and voluntary behaviours and its consequence on turnover. The current study therefore proposes that OCB mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and turnover. This is because employee’s with higher OCB are more emotionally attached and invested in the organisation, and are therefore less likely to jump ship when problems arise.