Impact of affective, normative and continuance commitment on organizational citizenship behavior in emerging economies

Purpose This study aims to use social interdependence theory to investigate how organizational commitment (OC) and its components, i.e. affective, normative and continuance commitment, influence organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among professionals in emerging economies. It uses the social interdependence theory as a theoretical framework to analyze this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected through a standardized questionnaire from 344 employees of two leading information technology (IT) multinational enterprises (MNEs) with operations in 190 and 59 countries, respectively. However, their operations in India were used to define the scope, considering India as a focal emerging economy. Karl Pearson’s Correlation, Regression and one-way ANOVA were used for analysis. Findings The empirical insights from this paper reveal the prevalence of a significant relationship and impact of normative and continuance commitment on OCB in the context of an emerging economy like India. When examined through the lens of the social interdependence theory, normative commitment, with its origin in the sense of obligation and a form of negative interdependence, results in oppositional interaction. More variants of the OC–OCB relationship and across the demographic variables were also observed. Research limitations/implications The present study extends the application of social interdependence theory to the OC–OCB relationship domain in emerging economies. It maps the various forms of positive and negative interdependencies among the different constituents of OC and OCB, helping to identify how these influence the emerging market context. Since the research is being conducted in a single industry sector, the results may lack generalizability. Practical implications This paper provides pertinent recommendations for developing organizational policies and strategies for enhancing OCB in emerging economies. It also highlights the demographic constituents that influence the outcome of these policies and strategies. Hence, talent management strategies in emerging markets, especially in the area of retention, should be designed to offer a better environment, compensation and engagement to employees than those offered by a competitor organization, thereby incentivizing them to continue with the organization for a longer period. Originality/value This paper contributes to the existing literature by introducing a perspective from an emerging economy like India, focusing on the OC–OCB relationship and discussing its contrasts across various socioeconomic contexts and economies. The study contributes to the literature on the IT sector, highlighting the role of these constructs in this sector. Furthermore, the theoretical lens adds substantial value to understanding the positive and negative interdependencies between different constituents of OC that influence OCB.