How organizational citizenship behavior is promoted among nurses: A moderated mediation model

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Health care environment relies to a great extent on positive nursing behaviors. So in this study, individual difference factors were taken into account in explaining organizational citizenship behavior by integrating trait theory, conservation of resource theory, and affective event theory.

OBJECTIVE:

The present study examines whether work burnout mediates the relationship between the extraversion trait and organizational citizenship behavior, then investigating whether the mediating effect is moderated by emotional contagion.

METHOD:

The study employs cross-sectional design and questionnaire-based survey was used to collect the data from 311 nurses working in private hospitals.

RESULTS:

The findings reveals that extraversion trait is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior. Then, work burnout partially mediates the relationship between extraversion and organizational citizenship behavior. Further, moderated mediation analysis discloses the indirect effect of extraversion on organizational citizenship behavior through work burnout is a decreasing function of emotional contagion.

CONCLUSION:

The study reports extravert nurses are likely to exhibit more organizational citizenship behavior through reduced work burnout. However, nurses should maintain low level of emotional contagion to have stronger mediating effects. Training should be provided to nursing staff to understand and handle the level of emotional contagion exist among them unconsciously.

Keywords

Burnout emotional contagion extraversion stress

1 Introduction

Nurses are the frontline health care providers, and responsible for demonstrating enhanced quality services [4, 49]. However, the In-role behaviors such as caring, helping behaviors, tolerance, proper communication and cooperation, is not completely sufficient to improve the organizational practices [30]. In the nursing profession, proactive behavior includes predicting surgeons’ needs, tracking patient status in an operating room [11, 53], and avoiding long wait times in emergency rooms [76]. Such voluntarily assisting others will lead to preventing work-related problems or minimize the incidence of errors [14, 84]. Thus, the greater display of these behaviors towards their peers in the workplace could significantly improve nursing performance and unit quality care [10, 30]. Furthermore, it has been established that optimistic nursing behaviors are essential for maintaining occupational health [7], treating rare diseases [51], and improving patient health and safety [65]. Besides, voluntary helping behavior serves to shield the organization against unsolicited behavior [43]. Thus the need of behavior beyond the job description (i.e. extra-role) is quite important, which is referred as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). It is defined as “Individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization” [68]. As OCB has been described by behavioral mechanisms such as altruism (the willingness to support others at work); conscientiousness (individuals go beyond job requirements and remain responsible); civic virtue (positive participation in the corporate life), courtesy (preventing work-related problems with others); and tolerating inconveniences without moaning (sportsmanship) [68]. Thus the OCB in the nursing context is desirable and inevitable. From the history of studies, an exhibition of OCB improves the speed and accuracy of task completion, business efficiency, organizational reputation, job performance, productivity, and profitability, as well as reduces turnover [30 , 82]. Further, few studies noted OCB is changing into compulsory behavior in nursing profession [73 , 87]. This further invokes the authors to find the potential causes, where the evergreen behavior (OCBs) could be enhanced.

2 Background and hypotheses

2.1 Mediating role of burnout

In the given fast-paced working environment, nursing is reflected as a high-pressure profession, and there will be a constant need to handle emergencies [81]. It often includes long hours of work, pressure from patients and peers, working shifts, dissatisfaction with the work environment, stressful organizational climate, and difficulties in balancing job–family obligations [2 , 58]. These debilitating factors lead to increased stress which can ultimately lead to burnout among nurses [12]. Besides there are conditions the inadequacy of resources and demands are not matched, and this culminating into psychological stress among nurses [83], perhaps making them more vulnerable to burnout [75]. Further, anxiety, low self-esteem, irritability, low job morale, and diminished interpersonal contact with colleagues and patients are all signs of burnout in nurses [37]. As a result, there’s a negative association between burnout and helping behaviors among service professionals [62]. Burnout is a distinctive type of stress syndrome, often referred to as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, cynicism, or reduced personal accomplishment [61]. The exhausted employees were forced to practice various coping strategies that involve some form of withdrawal behavior from the prevailing situation, i.e. exhibiting less OCB [36]. In a similar vein, earlier studies demonstrated depletion of physical or psychological resources decreases the possibility of exhibiting OCB [26, 85]. Liang [59] and Cropanzano, Rupp and Byrne [22] demonstrated that emotional exhaustion negatively affected OCBs. It is inferred from the above discussion, exhausted employees are likely to feel more tired, expend less effort at work, and maybe less willing to help others. Taking support from theoretical conservation of resource (COR) model, burnout occurs in response to the loss or threatened loss of resources, so employees tend to take steps to protect their resources. Hence there found a negative relationship exists between work burnout and OCB.

Further, studies showed burnout in predicting various organizational outcomes, such as higher turnover intention, reduces job satisfaction, and organizational commitment [4 , 59]. It is evident from literary works that understanding the causes of burnout is critical. Since nurses establish quality service in the health care setting, and they are viewed as a reservoir of valuable resources that must be conserved [10]. With the evidence of other factors such as Emotional Intelligence (EI), self-efficacy, self-control, structural empowerment, leadership, and emotional labor were relating to burnout and OCB [18 , 86], this study recognize the importance of individual difference variable for further investigation. Since every individual is not relating to the same level of stress, this could be inferred from the studies in the literature that certain personality traits are less exposed to burnout [3 , 77]. Personality refers to an individual’s inherent characteristics, encompassing long-lasting stable patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior across different situations [33, 46]. The most widely accepted personality framework is the “Big Five” model, which comprises extraversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. In the service literature, agreeableness and conscientiousness trait occupied a predominant position in explaining OCB. As agreeableness employees tend to be caring, supportive, empathetic in social interactions, and eager to help others [19], and these qualities are more required in the service context. Similarly, conscientiousness represents individuals’ responsibility, problem-focused coping, and attempt to methodologically solve work-related problems, and these qualities emphasized its importance in explaining OCB. However, studies deciphered that extravert employees have social skills, which make them friendly, active, and communicative [20 , 63], and these social skills make them assist their co-workers at their workplace [44, 67], which confirms that extravert employees are likely to exhibit more OCB [67, 79]. Thus, extraverts are competent in interpersonal communication and with growth-oriented disposition [8]. Further, Shih and Susanto [78] highlighted that the nursing profession employs a teamwork approach, which requires common objectives and collective responsibility for successful outcomes; this could be better expressed and explained by the trait extraversion. Also, creating a friendly attitude and enthusiastic nature may ensure a sustainable health service [87]. This optimistic approach can positively affect both themselves and co-workers and patients, which may create continuous helping behaviors. Similarly, Aftab, Rashid and Shah [1] showed extraversion positively predicted OCB. In light of the above studies, the significance of the extraversion trait in explaining OCB was found to be a deficit in the nursing literature. To fill this research gap, this study prefers to examine the relationship between extraversion and OCB. Further, taking support from internal casual of dispositional theory, traits influence our behaviors, leading us to do things in line with that trait. Personality traits are the enduring disposition of an individual; thus, these traits are expressed in that individual’s behavior [47]. From, the above discussion it is inferred that extraversion is positively influences OCB and negatively influences work burnout.

2.2 Role of Emotional contagion

Getting deeper into nursing literature, the significance of empathy cannot be ruled out in explaining citizenship behaviors [24 , 73]. Besides, in the nursing environment, the “catching” of other emotions signifies the process of Emotional contagion (EC) occurring in interpersonal interactions, e.g. becoming tense when seeing someone in pain [63, 80] is evident. According to the theory of EC people automatically and unintentionally capture and emulate others’ emotions [39]. Therefore, understanding the contagious nature of emotions and their influence is essential. However, EC forms a basis for empathy under affective dimensions [28]; it is recognized as emotional empathy. Further, both empathy and EC are grounded on the social–emotional linkage, i.e. the bonds formed (e.g. parent to child bond, leader to subordinate bond, peer to peer, employee to a customer) have emotional connections that fit into the social structure hierarchy. The sharing others’ emotions and feelings is considered a precursor for prosocial behavior [32]. Besides, prior studies recounted positive emotion is likely to exhibit more OCB [55]. Drawing inferences from affective events theory (AET), individuals’ emotions and moods have an impact on their performance and behaviors. Thus, EC can be considered as a precursor to OCB. However, paucity of research in the OCB literature in examining the associations between affective component of empathy (emotional contagion) and OCB. So this pressing research invokes the study to investigate from the perspective of individual differences. On the basis of existing literature and consistent with above theories, we hypothesized that,

H1: Extraversion trait is positively related to OCB

H2: Work burnout mediates the relationship between extraversion and OCB.

H3: EC moderates the indirect relationship between extraversion and OCB through work burnout. Specifically, compared with high level, the indirect effects is stronger for employees with low level of emotional contagion.

3 Methods

3.1 Participants and procedure

The researcher’s workplace Institutional Review Board approved this study. We approached the directors of nursing division of private hospitals in Chennai, southern India, which is the sampling frame of the study. Out of which, we received permission from 5 hospitals to conduct the survey. So this study employs a convenience sampling technique. The questionnaires were administered at the end of the shift, and oral informed consent was obtained from the participants during mid of June–September 2019. They were assured of anonymity and confidentiality for their responses. A cover letter was attached to the questionnaires explaining the research objectives. The self-administered questionnaires took no longer than 20 minutes to complete. The sample of this study falls into these designations such as staff nurse, advanced practice nurse, and head nurse manager. Participants’ inclusion criteria required that nurses worked in hospitals for at least 3 months and provided direct nursing care to patients and also including those working in management positions. These hospitals had at least 100-bed capacities, provided healthcare services in all branches like (internal diseases, surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics & gynaecology). A total respondents of 311 nurses were considered as final samples. Further, confidentiality and anonymity were maintained by not asking their names or the organization’s name.

The age of participants ranged from 21–48 years (M = 27.56, SD = 6.00). In total, 400 out of 311 valid samples were collected for the analysis, indicating a response rate of 77%. With respect to the respondents’ demographic information, female respondents accounted. In all, 61.4%of the respondents were younger than 30 years old, and 58.5 %were single. More than 87%of the participants held a bachelor’s degree. Regarding job tenure, 76.8%of the respondents served as healthcare staff for less than five years.

3.2 Ethical considerations

This research study was a part of the doctoral-level work of the first author. Therefore, prior ethical approval was granted by the doctoral committee members and the Centre for Research, Anna University, India, to pursue this study from the Institution wherein the researcher was registered.

3.3 Measures

In this study, the extraversion trait was measured with 10 items based on Goldberg’s International Personality Item Pool (IPIP 50-item). Sample items include “Am the life of the party”, “Feel comfortable around people” and “Am quiet around strangers”, respectively. Respondents were required to indicate their level of agreement using a five-point Likert scale ranging from “Strongly disagree” (1) to “Strongly agree” (5). The Cronbach’s alpha (α) was 0.92 for extraversion.

Work burnout was measured using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) [56], a seven-item questionnaire that represents the degree of physical and psychological fatigue experienced by a person in relation to work-related exhaustion. Sample questions include “Do you feel worn out at the end of the working day?” and “Do you feel that every working hour is tiring for you?”. Respondents indicated their burnout level using a five-point Likert scale ranging from “Never” (1) to “Always” (5). A higher score indicates a higher burnout. The Cronbach’s alpha (α) was 0.74 for work burnout.

OCB was measured using Podsakoff et al.’s [72] OCB questionnaire. The scale has 24 items, classified into five dimensions (altruism, sportsmanship, conscientiousness, courtesy, and civic virtue) under the same construct. Sample items include “I help others who have heavy workloads.” The items were assessed using a seven-point Likert scale ranging from “Strongly disagree” (1) to “Strongly agree” (7). On this scale, the items under the dimensions of sportsmanship have a reversed score. The Cronbach’s alpha (α) was 0.86 for organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).

The susceptibility of individuals to emotions was measured using the EC scale [27]. The scale consists of 15 items measuring five subscales of emotions (happy, love, anger, fear, and sad). Sample items include “If someone I’m talking with begins to cry, I get teary-eyed” and “Listening to the shrill screams of a terrified child in a dentist’s waiting room makes me feel nervous”. Respondents indicated their susceptibility level on a four-point Likert scale ranging from “Never” (1) to “Always” (4). This self-report scale measures EC, albeit from the perspective of the receiver, not the sender. The Cronbach’s alpha (α) was 0.92 for emotional contagion.

3.4 Validity and reliability

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed using AMOS 23.0 to assess the measurement model fit. To check the model fit, the following measures including reliability, fit indices, convergent and divergent validity were assessed. The model fit indices for the measurement model are as follows: χ2 = 2830.5; df = 1398; p = 0.000; χ2/ df = 2.025; Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.901; Incremental Fit Index (IFI) = 0.902; RMSEA = 0.057; Standardised Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) = 0.0502. The results reported a good fit with all the fit indices values. To attain convergent validity, the composite reliability (C.R.) value should exceed 0.7, and the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) should exceed 0.5 [31]. To attain discriminant validity, the square root of AVE (values in the diagonal of the matrix) should be greater than the correlations between the constructs (off-diagonal elements). Table 1, provide evidence for convergent and discriminant validity as all the above-mentioned criteria were met. The scale’s internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach alpha (α) coefficients and the study reported that the values are above 0.7, therefore, meeting the acceptance criteria [21].

Table 1
Convergent and discriminant validity

CR AVE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1 0.92 0.55 0.74 ^†

2 0.84 0.60 –0.14 0.77

3 0.91 0.79 0.28 –0.16 0.89

4 0.87 0.69 0.31 –0.05 0.72 0.83

5 0.92 0.80 0.11 –0.01 0.47 0.47 0.89

6 0.90 0.75 0.10 –0.01 0.48 0.45 0.51 0.86

7 0.93 0.82 0.06 –0.11 0.50 0.39 0.44 0.58 0.90

8 0.89 0.63 0.18 –0.09 0.16 0.22 0.09 0.26 0.16 0.79

9 0.89 0.62 0.27 –0.25 0.23 0.15 0.06 0.02 0.00 0.20 0.79

10 0.92 0.69 0.33 –0.28 0.23 0.17 0.06 0.09 0.13 0.33 0.12 0.83

11 0.95 0.79 0.17 –0.17 0.08 0.16 0.03 0.08 0.15 0.29 0.11 0.28 0.89

12 0.93 0.78 0.19 –0.15 0.29 0.26 0.23 0.15 0.22 0.16 0.13 0.32 0.52 0.88

	CR	AVE	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1	0.92	0.55	0.74 ^†
2	0.84	0.60	–0.14	0.77
3	0.91	0.79	0.28	–0.16	0.89
4	0.87	0.69	0.31	–0.05	0.72	0.83
5	0.92	0.80	0.11	–0.01	0.47	0.47	0.89
6	0.90	0.75	0.10	–0.01	0.48	0.45	0.51	0.86
7	0.93	0.82	0.06	–0.11	0.50	0.39	0.44	0.58	0.90
8	0.89	0.63	0.18	–0.09	0.16	0.22	0.09	0.26	0.16	0.79
9	0.89	0.62	0.27	–0.25	0.23	0.15	0.06	0.02	0.00	0.20	0.79
10	0.92	0.69	0.33	–0.28	0.23	0.17	0.06	0.09	0.13	0.33	0.12	0.83
11	0.95	0.79	0.17	–0.17	0.08	0.16	0.03	0.08	0.15	0.29	0.11	0.28	0.89
12	0.93	0.78	0.19	–0.15	0.29	0.26	0.23	0.15	0.22	0.16	0.13	0.32	0.52	0.88

Notes: 1 = Extraversion; 2 = Work burnout; 3 = Happy; 4 = Love; 5 = Anger; 6 = Fear; 7 = Sad; 8 = Altruism; 9 = Sportsmanship; 10 = Conscientiousness; 11 = Courtesy; 12 = Civic virtue. All items in each variable have values of AVE > 0.5 and CR > 0.7. †, The elements along the diagonal are the square root of AVE and are greater than the off-diagonal elements that are the correlations between constructs. AVE, average variance extracted; CR, composite reliability.

Table 2

Descriptive statistics and correlations of study variables

Variables	M	SD	1	2	3	4
1. Extraversion	3.54	0.76	1
2. Work burnout	2.54	0.78	–0.138*	1
3. OCB	3.74	0.52	0.319**	–0.326**	1
4. EC	3.79	0.63	0.210**	–0.112*	0.307**	1

Notes: ^*p < 0.05; ^**p < 0.01.

3.5 Common method bias

Knowing that self-reported measures and cross-sectional studies are prone to common method bias, factor analysis using Harman’s one-factor test was performed to analyze whether the data suffer from common method bias. It was found that the first factor falls well within the acceptable range of 40%[70].

3.6 Control variables

The demographic variables age and experience were used as covariates because previous research showed an association between these variables and OCB [47, 50]. Age was coded into three levels, 1 = “21-30” years, 2 = “31–40” years, and 3 = above 40 years. Next, experience was coded into three levels, 1 = <5 years, 2 = “5–15” years, and 3 = >15 years.

3.7 Data analysis

The data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 23. We first examined the descriptive statistics and correlation among study variables. We then used the INDIRECT macro [74] to assess work burnout’s mediating effect on the relationship between extraversion and OCB. Next, we examined whether the mediation process was moderated by EC. Finally, Hayes’s PROCESS macro (Model 14) was used to analyze the moderated mediation model to estimate the conditional indirect effects of extraversion trait on OCB through work burnout as a function of EC.

4 Results

4.1 Descriptive statistics

Means, standard deviations, and correlations among the variables are presented in Table 2. The results reveal that extraversion was negatively associated with work burnout (r = –0.138, p < 0.05), work burnout was negatively correlated with OCB (r = –0.326, p < 0.01), extraversion was positively associated with OCB (r = 0.319, p < 0.01), and EC was positively correlated with OCB (r = 0.307, p < 0.01).

4.2 Testing for the mediating effect

To test work burnout’s mediating effect, we conducted an INDIRECT procedure for SPSS [74]. We also used a bootstrapping method to test the significance of work burnout’s indirect effect on the relationship between extraversion and OCB [41]. We calculated 95%bias-corrected confidence intervals (CI) of the parameter estimates using 5,000 resamples of data.

After we controlled demographic variables (age & experience) in the regression model, the effect of extraversion on OCB showed significant effects. Table 3 shows that extraversion had a positive effect on OCB (β= 0.216, p < 0.001) and a negative effect on work burnout (β= –0.141, p < 0.05) and that work burnout had a negative effect on OCB (β= –0.192, p < 0.001). When the mediator work burnout was included in the model, the effect of extraversion on OCB was reduced (β= 0.189, p < 0.001), and the reduction in this relationship were found to be significant. The conditional indirect effect of extraversion on OCB through work burnout was significant (b = 0.027, SE = 0.0121, 95%CI = [0.007,0.054]) as the 95%CI does not include zero, meaning that the effects are significant at α= 0.05 (see Table 3). Therefore, we confirmed that work burnout partially mediated the relationship between extraversion and OCB. Hence, H1 and H2 are supported.

Table 3
Regression results for simple mediation

Variable Coeff SE t p

Direct and total effect

Extraversion –>OCB (c) 0.2165 0.0366 5.906 0.000

Extraversion –>work burnout (a) –0.1407 0.0573 –2.455 0.0146

Work burnout –>OCB (b) –0.1922 0.0348 –5.528 0.000

Extraversion –>work burnout –>OCB (c’) 0.1894 0.0353 5.358 0.000

Boot SE Boot LLCI Boot ULCI

Bootstrap results for indirect effect

Effect 0.027 0.0121 0.0075 0.0549

Adjusted R² 17.73^*

F 34.39^*

Variable	Coeff	SE	t	p
	Direct and total effect
Extraversion –>OCB (c)	0.2165	0.0366	5.906	0.000
Extraversion –>work burnout (a)	–0.1407	0.0573	–2.455	0.0146
Work burnout –>OCB (b)	–0.1922	0.0348	–5.528	0.000
Extraversion –>work burnout –>OCB (c’)	0.1894	0.0353	5.358	0.000
	Boot	SE	Boot LLCI	Boot ULCI
		Bootstrap results for indirect effect
Effect	0.027	0.0121	0.0075	0.0549
Adjusted R²	17.73^***
F	34.39^***

Notes: Bootstrap sample size = 5000. LLCI = lower bound in 95%confidence interval; ULCI = upper bound in 95%confidence interval.

4.3 Testing for moderated mediation

To test moderated mediation, we adopted Model 14 of the PROCESS approach [32]. Table 4 presents the moderating effect of EC on the indirect relationship between extraversion and OCB through work burnout. The results show that the moderator EC was positively related to OCB (β= 0.195, p < .001). The interaction term between work burnout and EC on OCB was also significant (β= 0.125, p < 0.05). This significant interaction was interpreted by plotting simple slopes (see Fig. 2) at one standard deviation above and below the mean of the EC. The slope of the relationship between work burnout and OCB was relatively improved for employees with lower levels of EC, whereas the slope at high levels of EC remained stable and did not show stronger effects.

Fig. 1

The hypothesized moderated mediation model. Note “a”, “b”, “c”, and “c^′” represent the regression coefficients in Table 3.

Table 4

Regression results for conditional indirect effects

Predictor	Coeff	SE	t	p
	Work burnout
Extraversion	–0.1407	0.0531	–2.649	0.008
	OCB
Work burnout	–0.1745	0.0358	–4.871	0.000
Emotional contagion	0.1950	0.0440	4.433	0.000
Work burnout×emotional contagion	0.1255	0.0523	2.4010	0.016
Emotional contagion	Boot indirect effect	Boot SE	Boot LLCI	Boot ULCI
	Conditional indirect effect at EC = M±1 SD
–1 SD (–0.634)	0.0358	0.0162	0.0090	0.0728
M(.000)	0.0246	0.0113	0.0061	0.0508
+1 SD (0.634)	0.0133	0.0091	0.0006	0.0372
Mediator	Index	Boot SE	Boot LLCI	Boot ULCI
	Index of moderated mediation
Work burnout	–0.0177	0.0107	–0.0461	–0.0028

Notes: Bootstrap sample size = 5000.

Fig. 2

Interaction of work burnout and EC on OCB.

The conditional indirect effects further demonstrated that the indirect effect of extraversion on OCB via work burnout was contingent on EC (see Table 4). The indirect effect of extraversion on OCB through work burnout was significant for low levels of EC (b = 0.035, SE = 0.016, 95%CI = 0.009 to 0.072), middle levels of EC (b = 0.024, SE = 0.011, 95%CI = 0.006 to 0.050), and high levels of EC (b = 0.013, SE = 0.009, 95%CI = 0.0006 to 0.037). The findings show that the indirect effect of extraversion on OCB through work burnout became stronger as the level of EC decreased. Further, at all the levels of moderator EC (one standard deviation below the mean, the mean, and one standard deviation above the mean), the values were found to be positive and significant, which is in line with the normal-theory tests [17]. Moreover, the bootstrap confidence interval for indirect effects corroborated these results. If the bootstrap confidence interval for the index of moderated mediation does not contain zero, it implies more direct and absolute evidence of moderation of the indirect effect (in this case, extraversion depends on EC) [40]. The index of moderated mediation was negative (see Table 4), meaning that the indirect effect of extraversion on OCB through work burnout is a decreasing function of EC, i.e. the indirect effect of extraversion on OCB through work burnout is contingent on the individual level of EC, such that the effects are stronger for those with low EC. Therefore, EC moderates the indirect effect of extraversion on OCB through work burnout, thus supporting H3.

5 Discussion

In relation to H1, in every situation, an individual will respond differently in terms of how one thinks, feels, and acts. Personality denotes the constant characteristic of individuals. Employees with a dominant personality are highly confident, self-controlled, and well-adjusted, which is more suitable for a nurse job role. In this study, the predominant extraversion trait was considered in relation to explaining nurses’ citizenship behavior and also for investigating its mechanism, thereby aiming to identify its mediating and moderating effects. This study’s purpose was to investigate the indirect effects of extraversion and OCB through work burnout and explore the moderating effects of EC in the indirect relationship between extraversion and OCB. Results showed that all the study variables were significantly correlated. First, the direct relationship between extraversion and OCB was found to be significant and positively related, with the study results in line with previous studies [67]. Extraversion is considered a critical dispositional determinant of social behavior [9, 79] because of their communicative nature, extraverts enjoy social attention. Extraverts also seek affiliation and enjoy the interpersonal bonds they create [61]. Earlier research provided evidence that extraverts are likely to engage in altruistic behavior [54]. Extraverted nurses are more likely to exhibit OCB; since they are characterized by sociability, talkativeness, activeness [35], and they create a good rapport with their co-workers and patients. They may generally experience positive social environments at work because they often evoke positive responses from their co-workers [13]. When in groups, they like to talk, share views, and draw attention to themselves. Such behavior underpins H1 being supported.

Regarding H2, the relationship between extraversion and work burnout was found to be significant and negative. The study results align with previous works [3 , 79]. Extravert employees are likely to experience reduced burnout; since they tend to exhibit enthusiasm and create friendliness with others, the chances of being subjected to stress thereby being exposed to burnout are considerably reduced. Next, the relationship between work burnout and OCB was found to be significant and negative, which is also corroborated with earlier studies [29]. Thus, employees are likely to exhibit more citizenship behaviors when they are prone to less work burnout. In healthcare settings, this is usually manifested as always being ready to lend a helping hand. Such behavior also makes it easier for nurses to share and support their co-workers with their workloads with less stress. Thus, nurses with extravert traits are less prone to burnout, which in turn leads to more OCB in the work environment. From the study results, it is amply evident that work burnout partially mediated the relationship between extraversion and OCB; hence, H2 was supported.

Finally, regarding H3, the study aimed to examine EC’s effect on the indirect relations between extraversion and OCB through work burnout, i.e. the research focused on the moderating role of EC in examining the contingent conditions under which the extraversion trait influences work burnout, which in turn leads to OCB. The study results showed that EC moderated the indirect relations between extraversion and OCB. This study’s findings showed a significant direct effect and the moderating effect of EC, suggesting that individuals susceptible to others’ emotions (EC) are likely to display more OCB. Specifically, indirect relations only become stronger at the lower level of EC. Thus, H3 was partially supported. Figure 2 shows that, at a low level of EC, the display of OCB was higher for employees who were less prone to work burnout. On the other hand, the exhibition of OCB remained stable for highly susceptible employees, irrespective of their burnout level. Integrating EC as a moderator into the model allowed a deeper examination of the phenomenon under study. This study has shown that extravert nurses, who are less susceptible to others’ emotions, are more likely to engage in OCB through reduced work burnout. However, this indirect effect is weaker for nurses with high EC. It is essential, therefore, to understand the reasons behind such weaker effects of EC at a high level. This is because, in terms of the direct effects, EC showed a positive relationship with OCB, i.e. nurses with higher emotional susceptibility are likely to exhibit more citizenship behavior in the organization. With the influence of high EC, however, the indirect relationship between extraversion and OCB through work burnout becomes weaker. Nurses should, therefore, be aware of the impact of EC’s effects on them. The top management has to ensure that the work climate are made conducive to stress free environment and take suitable intervention actions when there is evidence of workloads getting increased or the nurses are subjected to avoidable work pressures.

6 Limitations and future research

The present study has several limitations. First, it is difficult to generalize the findings because this study was performed on female nurses working in private hospitals in a specific locality (Chennai, southern India). Future research is needed in this context within primary health centers and government hospitals. Second, the study employed a cross-sectional design, so we cannot make causal inferences about the variables’ associations. To confirm the variables’ causal relationships, a longitudinal design or experimental studies need to be undertaken. Third, the variables were measured via participants’ self-reports, so the chances of social-desirability bias and other biases may exist. To address this, employees’ OCB can be measured, for example, from a supervisor’s point of view in future studies. Also, each dimension of OCB could be investigated separately. The present study focused on only one of the Big Five personality trait dimensions, so future work could be carried out with other dimensions. Future research could also explore the influence of positive and negative EC in the study model.

7 Implications

Importantly, our study has several practical implications. First, the study shows that extravert employees are more likely to exhibit OCB. These results confirm that extravert nurses are willing to help their co-workers despite their busy work schedules, which further proves that an enthusiastic, active, and communicative nature is highly involved in extra-role behaviors. This provides a strong suggestion that employees with the extraversion trait should be actively sought for the nursing job role. However, not all employees possess an extravert nature, while others may not voluntarily exhibit helping behaviors. It is important for employers to teach and train employees regarding the optimal team-role behaviors as this can help employees generate a pleasant psychological mindset, build a good rapport with their colleagues, and share work activities, creating a learning environment.

Second, nurses must perform as a caregiver, a counselor, a good communicator in nourishing the nurse–patient relationship, as a change agent in keeping records, and in terms of adapting plans based on clients’ health conditions. In such interactions, every nurse is faced with emotional challenges, all of which increase the exposure to stress. Further, some patients may exhibit incompatibility with nurses, which might lead to exhaustion among nurses. Leaders are advised to listen to employees’ problems and respond quickly. They are also encouraged to open up new opportunities to employees to become psychologically involved in work roles, tackle the various emotional situations, and develop a good emotional state, which benefits the organization. Further, managers in the healthcare setting need to understand employees’ nature and their adaptability and flexibility in handling emotional situations at work. It is essential to provide a secure environment for nurses, resulting in more extra-role behaviors that benefit the organization’s outcomes and support them in reducing work burnout. Thus, the sharing of work tasks could help to enhance OCB and also lessen the burnout level. In a nurse’s job role, emotions play an active role while interacting with others. Understanding others’ emotions is, therefore, pivotal. However, experiencing and expressing these emotions is constantly required among nurses. Care should be taken with employees in this context because EC may bring about behavioral changes. The study’s major finding concerns the fact that the indirect relations between extraversion and OCB were enhanced at lower levels of EC. On the other hand, at higher EC levels, the indirect relationship was found to be weak. However, extravert individuals are well suited to these healthcare organizations. Therefore, at the strategic level, employers need to understand the impact of EC on nurses. While it is desired at some level, its influence does not in fact have a drastic effect on nurses.

8 Conclusion

The present study indicates that the extraversion trait has positive effects in relation to exhibiting more OCB. The mediation analysis reveals that work burnout can be one possible mechanism underlying this relationship. Further, moderated mediation analysis reveals that EC enhances indirect relations, with the effect between work burnout and OCB being stronger at lower levels of EC. These findings deepen our understanding about the contagious the effect of emotions, which needs to be taken care among nurses. Further, the reveals the others possible ways to enhance the extra-role behaviors along with their on-the job duties.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the nurses who participated in the study.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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