A Study of Relationships among Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Workaholism and Deviant Behaviors with Moderating Role of Islamic Work Ethics on Students’ Performance in Engineering Educational Institutions in Pakistan

Abstract

Background. Engineering educational institutions are extremely important contributors in human development of any nation since these deliver the engineers to production and service industries. Pakistan faces a serious challenge of falling human development index (HDI) in global competitive environment. As developed nations have studied different kinds of tangible and intangible factors for enhancing students’ productivity/performance, developing nations like Pakistan lack empirical research on the impacts of intangible variables like work ethics(WE), positive and negative organizational behaviors(OB) i.e. organizational citizenship behavior( OCB), destructive deviant behaviors(DDB), constructive deviant behaviors(CDB), and work attitudes like workaholism(WA) on the performance of the engineering students. Aim and Objectives. Present research explores direct and indirect effects of WE, OB and WA on engineering students’ performance, to provide an empirical base to educational practitioners and policy makers on significance of using these intangible factors for enhancing students’ performance. The objective is to suggest a holistic model of effects of behaviors, attitudes, and ethics on productivity/performance of engineering students and contribute a novel model of indirect impact of WE on productivity through OB and WA, an area where very little work was available in contemporary literature. Method. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of research are used in tandem. As partial theory was available, hence, in qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews from the supervisors (22 faculty members) were conducted and analyzed using “Codebook Thematic Analysis (TA)” method to develop theoretical models of direct and indirect effects of WE on engineering students’ performance. In quantitative phase, relationships of ethics, OB and WA have been explored using structural equation modelling (SEM) from two samples of engineering students (375 and 400 students). Finally, a validated model of indirect effects of xiii WE on performance through mediating variables (OCB, DDB, CDB and WA) has been presented. Results and Findings. The complementarity of both phases suggests that OCB, DDB, CDB, WA, and WE have effects on the performance of the engineering students. It has been found that WE do not moderate the relationships of OCB, DDB, CDB, and WA with performance. Instead, WE act as antecedent for enhanced positive behaviors/attitudes (OCB, CDB, WA) and less negative behaviors like DDB. Models are tested through quantitative data analysis (path analysis/SEM). An understandable and novel explanation of the indirect relation of WE with productivity has been found through increased positive and decreased negative behaviors/attitude. The results from the analysis of the model show that the OCB, CDB and WA are affected positively, whereas DDB is affected negatively by WE and ultimately, the performance is enhanced. Conclusions and Implications. The research contributes to the body of knowledge of the effects of WE, OB and WA on the students’ performance, thus building further upon the theories of social exchange, self-determination and moral licensing. The research has implications in the practical and managerial fields, as this research provides an empirical base to the practitioners and the policy makers for enhancing performance/productivity of students / employees through intangible variables i.e., WE, OB and WA. The scope enhancement of this work is recommended through longitudinal research in diversified populations to validate the model of indirect relationships of WE through OB and WA with productivity.