Mediating Effect of Job Satisfaction on the Relationship between Psychological Contract Breach and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour among Medical Doctors

Abstract

Medical doctors are responsible for leading the care of patients. They are arguably the most valuable assets of healthcare organisations. They are needed in their right quantities to improve health outcomes particularly during the outbreak of pandemics, such as Covid-19. This study examined the mediating role of job satisfaction in the connection between psychological contract breach and organisational citizenship behaviour among medical doctors across 26 healthcare units in the Upper East and Upper West Regions of Ghana. 214 medical doctors participated in the study. A self-administered questionnaire process was adopted. The questionnaire was pre-tested prior to the main survey. The data collected from the main survey were subjected to Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy, Bartlett"s test of sphericity, reliability, and validity tests. Control variables were sex (GEN1), age (GEN2), employment type (GEN3) and tenure (GEN4). Partial least square structural equation modelling was employed with the aid of Smart PLS 3.0M.3. As expected, job satisfaction partially mediated the connection between psychological contract breach and organisational citizenship behaviour among medical doctors working in the Upper East and Upper West Regions of Ghana. The study therefore established that job satisfaction reduces the effect of a psychological contract breach on the medical doctors" tendency to be bad organisational citizens. The study therefore recommends managers of Ghana Health Service to consider improving the level of job satisfaction among medical doctors working in the Upper East and Upper West Regions of Ghana, such as improving upon their welfare needs and providing safe working environment so as to propel them to be better organisational citizens.

Psychological contract breach moderates job satisfaction–citizenship behaviour relationship

“…To illustrate, Abdullah (2018) showed a direct positive effect of JST on OCB among teachers drawn from public vocational high schools in Indonesia. Koomson and Opoku Mensah (2020) also uncovered a direct positive connection between JST and OCB among medical doctors in Ghana. In line with the result of earlier related studies and assumptions of the SET, the first hypothesis of this study is formulated as follows:…”

“…Finally, Section "D" of the questionnaire looked at the background information of respondents. The information sought were sex (1 5 male; 0 5 female), age (in years), employment type (1 5 fulltime employment; 0 5 part time) and the number of years worked (in years), as used in earlier studies (Koomson and Opoku Mensah, 2020;Opoku Mensah and Koomson, 2021).…”

“…However, when a PC is in breach, employees reciprocate by show undesirable behaviour. For instance, Koomson and Opoku Mensah (2020) tested the assumptions of the SET and found a negative effect of PCB on the JST of medical doctors in Ghana. Opoku Mensah and Koomson (2021) also utilised the SET and showed that an unfulfilled PC can lead to low OCB among health-care professionals in Ghana.…”

Psychological contract breach as a stressor in the physician’s job commitment–extra-role behaviour relationship

“…These unfair instances put severe pressure or stress on the physicians working in these two regions. This stress can be likened to high-PCB on the part of their healthcare employer, which may eventually lead the physicians to show low levels of JCM (Hazrati, 2017), as well as low ETB (Koomson & Opoku Mensah, 2020), as explained by the SET. Besides, this high-PCB could demoralise a committed physician and supress his/her effort to offer ETB, with its associated benefits.…”

“…As proof, Shen et al (2019) report a negative linkage between PCB and ETB among employees and supervisors in China. Koomson and Opoku Mensah (2020) also share that PCB caused medical doctors to show low citizenship behaviour in Ghana.…”