Happiness at work, organization citizenship behaviour and workplace diversity: a study on Indian private sector bank employees

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between employee happiness at work and organizational citizenship behaviour in Indian private sector banks. In this study, happiness at work is represented by three constructs: job satisfaction, affective commitment and work engagement. The study also investigates whether employees’ perception of diversity management practices mediates the relationship between happiness at work and organizational citizenship behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 498 responses from employees of three major private sector banks in the Delhi-NCR region were analysed to investigate relationships between dependent, independent and mediating variables by using structural equation modelling.

Findings

Happiness at work has a significant positive impact on organizational citizenship behaviour, and employees’ perception of diversity management plays a strong mediating role between the relationship of happiness at work and organizational citizenship behaviour.

Practical implications

Happiness at work and perception of diversity management have a significant influence on organizational citizenship behaviour of banking employees. Private sector banks in India need to make strategies for workplace happiness and diversity management so that the employees work as citizens of the bank and willingly take responsibility for extra-role behaviour along with their assigned roles.

Originality/value

The findings of this paper reveal that although employees may experience happiness at work represented by job satisfaction, affective commitment and work engagement, their happiness is less likely to be reflected in their organizational citizenship behaviour until they have a positive perception of the workforce diversity management practices. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is unique in terms of its emphasis on the mediating role of diversity management on employees’ happiness and organizational citizenship behaviour in Indian private sector banks.