The Mediating Effect of Compensation on Organizational Politics, Human Resource Management Practices and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Organizational citizenship behavior is one of the critical determinants of institutional success. This study examined the effect of organizational politics and human resource management practices on the organizational citizenship behavior of the employees in Ghana’s private tertiary institutions, with compensation as a mediating variable. The study used a causal design and mediation analysis to examine the relationships and interrelationships between the variables. 334 participants were selected from 33 institutions. Regression analysis and Smart Partial Least Square – Structural Equation Modeling were used to analyze the data. Although human resource management practices did not predict organizational citizenship behavior, corporate politics explained 24.4%, (F (332) = 107.188, p <.000) variance in organizational citizenship behavior. The total variance in compensation explained by organizational politics and human resource management practices is 54.6%, F (331) = 198.961, p <.000. Compensation partially mediated organizational politics’ path to organizational citizenship behavior while it fully intervened in the path of human resource management practices to organizational citizenship behavior. The study recommends improving human resource management practices and enhancing employees’ compensation packages since it positively intervenes in organizational citizenship behavior.