Abstract:
The study empirically investigated how employees’ perception of interpersonal
trust at work affects the extent to which they go beyond formally prescribed roles, Organizational
Citizenship Behaviour (OCB). The survey design was employed for the study. Two dimensions of
interpersonal trust at work (Trust in co-workers and trust in Management) and OCB were studied.
Social Exchange Theory was utilized in describing potential relationships between trust and
citizenship behaviour. Data were obtained from 152 employees randomly sampled from various
organizations and analyzed using Pearson’s r and multiple regression analysis, and the
hypotheses were tested at .05 and .01 levels. The major findings of the study suggested that
employees’ interpersonal trust at work significantly influences their discretionary behaviour. A
very vital finding was that employees’ trust in co-workers influenced their organizational
citizenship behaviour more than their trust in management. Understanding personal and
organisational factors associated with OCB have important implications for the training, and
development of employees to facilitate the smooth operation of any organization. There is paucity
of published studies in Ghana on how interpersonal variables, such as trust, affect employees’
work attitude and behaviour as well as organisational outcomes. This study is therefore very
invaluable in providing insight into the Ghanaian context in this area.
