Supervisor support, employee engagement and organizational citizenship behaviors among nurses in Uganda : A case of Lira Regional Referral Hospital (LRRH)

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between Supervisor Support, Employee Engagement and Organizational Citizenship Behavior. The target population consisted of170 nurses of Lira Regional Referral Hospital (LRRH). The study utilized simple random sampling technique to select 118 respondents. Cross sectional survey design was adopted to test associations between the study variables. Data was collected using standardized self-administered questionnaires previously used in several empirical studies. Supervisor Support was measured using the shortened version of SPOS questionnaire developed by (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, & Sowa, 1986).The word organization was replaced with the word Supervisor. Employee Engagement (EE) was measured using the shortened version of Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) developed by (Schaufeli, Bakker, & Salanova, 2006). Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) was measured using 24 item scale developed by (Podsakoff, Mackenzie, Moorman, & Fetter, 1990). Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS, version 23) in which correlation analysis was used to establish the relationship among study variable. PROCESS Macro 3 was used to run regression analysis. Findings from Bivariate correlation analysis revealed that there is a significant positive correlation between Supervisor Support and Employee Engagement as well as between Supervisor Support and OCB. In addition, a significant positive relationship was found between employee engagement and OCB. Regression analysis further revealed that Employee Engagement fully mediate the relationship between supervisor support and OCB. Therefore, it was recommended that LRRH should promote supportive supervision among nurses’ leaders in order to encourage employee engagement and performance of OCB among workers.