IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

Journal of Business and African Economy (JBAE )

E-ISSN 2545-5281
P-ISSN 2695-2238
VOL. 10 NO. 5 2024
DOI: 10.56201/jbae.v10.no5.2024.pg69.80

---

Upward Influence Strategy and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour: A Study of Selected Local Governments in Nigeria

UBIEBOR, Alex Obaro, Professor G.O. Demaki, Professor E.G. Eromafuru

---

Abstract

Prior studies report that citizenship behavior (OCB) of employees within organizations lead to improved growth and performance, however while several antecedents such as leaders’ behavior is known to influence OCB, the effect of upward influence strategies adopted by subordinates have not featured prominently in the literature. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between upward influence strategies and organizational citizenship behavior. 221 randomly selected employees of Ughelli North Local Government Council participated in the study. A structured questionnaire was administered to the respondents at place of work and retrieved thereafter. Simple linear regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings indicate that OCB was positively and significantly related to soft upward influence strategy, while hard upward influence strategy was negatively and significantly related to OCB. The study recommends that soft upward influence strategy should be adopted by employees as this will enhance OCB at the Local Government Councils.

keywords:

Organizational citizenship behaviour; Soft upward influence strategies, Hard upward

---

References:

Aftab, N., Rashid, S., & Ali-Shah, S. A. (2018). Direct effect of extraversion and
conscientiousness with interactive effect of positive psychological capital on
organizational citizenship behavior among university teachers. Cogent Psychology, 5(1),
Ahmed, I., Ismail, W. K. W., Amin, S. M., Ramzan, M., & Khan, M. K. (2012). A look at social
exchange at work: A literature survey approach. World Applied Sciences Journal, 19(7),
951-956.
Alshenaifi, N., & Clarke, N. (2014). Follower upward influence tactics - key findings from the
literature (Doctoral Thesis), School of Management, University of Southampton,
Highfield, Southampton.
Amah, O. E. (2017). Organizational citizenship behavior across cultures: Are organizational
citizenship behavior scales transferable across cultures? Research Journal of Business
Management, 11(2), 56-66.
Armstrong, S.J, Qi, M. (2020). The influence of Leaders-Follower Cognitive Style Similarity on
Followers’ Organizational Citizenship behavior. Frontiers’ in Psychology. 11(12)65-75.
Aruoren, E. E. (2020). Demographic antecedents of upward influence strategy in public
institutions in Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Management Sciences, 21(1&2), 329-345.
Bamford, D. (2006). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience. Int. J. Oper. Prod.



Manag. 26, 1276–1277.
Casimir, G., Ngee-Keith Ng, Y., Yuan-Wang, K., & Ooi, G. (2014). The relationships amongst
leader-member exchange, perceived organizational support, affective commitment, and
in-role performance: A social-exchange perspective. Leadership and Organizational
Development Journal, 35, 366–385.
Chaturvedi, S., & Srivastava, A. K. (2014). An overview of upward influence tactics. Global
Journal of Finance and Management, 6(3), 265-274.
Epitropaki, O., & Martin, R. (2013). Transformational-transactional leadership and upward
influence: The role of relative leader-member exchanges (RLMX) and perceived
organizational support (POS). The Leadership Quarterly,24(2), 299-315.
Gkorezis, P., Petridou, E., & Xanthiakos, P. (2014). Leader positive humor and
organizationalcynicism: LMX as a mediator. Leadership & Organization Development
Journal, 35(4), 305-315.
Graen, G. B., & Taylor, E. T. (2004). A new approach to team leadership: upward, downward,
and horizontal to differentiation. In G. B. Graen (Ed.), New frontiers of leadership, LMX
leadership: The series, 2. (33?66).
Kandeepan, V. (2016). Organizational citizenship behaviour of non-academic staff members in
the university system of Sri Lanka: A case study in university of Jaffna. International
Journal of Information Research and Review, 3(1), 1710-1716.
Kaul, A. (2013). Talking up: Study of upward influence strategies. Proceedings of the 2013
Association for Business Communication Annual Convention, 1-19.
Kim, S. L., Han, S., Son, S. Y., & Yun, S. (2017). Exchange ideology in supervisor –
subordinate dyads, LMX, and knowledge sharing: A social exchange perspective. Asia
Pacific Journal of Management, 34, 147–172.
Lam, M., Raja, M., Finstrad-Milion, K., & Desilus, B. (2017). Getting things done: Proactive
influence tactics in Mexico and the United States. Global Journal of Management and
Marketing, 1(2), 46-62.
Lee, S.J.; Yun, S.H.; Byun, G.D. (2016). The E ects of Leaders’ Influence Tactics on
Subordinates’ Job Performance. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. Res. 23, 47–78.
Martin, R., Guillaume, Y., Thomas, G., Lee, A., & Epitropaki, O. (2016). Leader–member
exchange. LMX performance: A meta-analytic review. Pers. Psychol.69, 67–121.
Masood, M., Shafique, M., Ahmad, R., & Mansoor, M. Y. (2015). The impact of upward
influence strategies on performance ratings: Using social network as moderator. Sci. Int.
(Lahore), 27(3), 2945-2952.
Ojebola, O. O., Osibanjo, A. O., Adeniji, A. A., Salau, O. P., & Falola, H. O. (2020).
Organizational citizenship behaviour and its influence on manufacturing firms survival in
Nigeria: A systematic review. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 19(1), 1-14.
Oladipupo, L. (2016). The influence of perceived occupational stress on the organizational
citizenship behaviour of bankers in Ikeja, Lagos State. European Scientific Journal,
12(17)101-113
Podsakoff, N. P., Whiting, S. W., Podsakoff, P. M., & Blume, B. D. (2009). Individual and
organizational level consequences of organizational citizenship behaviors: A meta-



analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(1), 122-141.
Podsakoff, P. M., Mackenzie, S. B., & Podsakoff N. P. (2016). Organizational citizenship
behavior: Introduction and overview. In P. M. Podsakoff, S. B. Mackenzie, and N. P.
Podsakoff (Eds.). The Online Oxford Handbook of Organizational Citizenship Behavior
(pp. 1-8). Oxford University Press.
Purcell, K., & Rainie, L. (2014). Technology’s impact on workers. PewInternet & American Life
Project.Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/12/30/ technologys-impact-
onworkers
Rauf, F. A. (2016). Two sides of the same coin: harmful or helpful? A critical review of the
consequences of organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Advance Management
and Accounting Research, 3(9)17-26.
Russell, S. L. T. (2019). The role of upward influence in organizational politics: A discussion on
the effectiveness of single and combined influence tactics in an upward direction. Scripps
Senior Theses, 1379.
Ryan, L. . & Hyun, S. S. (2019). Impact of managerial influence tactics on job creativity and
performance: a focus on korean airline service employees.
www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
Seejeen, P. (2017). The effects of the leader–member exchange relationship on rater
accountability: A conceptual approach. Cogent Psychology, 4(1), 400-416.
Shayista, M., Sabiya, M., & Nazir, N. (2018). Personality traits and organizational citizenship
behaviour: A review. International Journal of Advance and Innovative Research, 5(4),
304-308.
Sheeraz, M. I., Ahmad, U. N., Ishaq,M. I., & Nor, K. M. (2020). Moderating role of leader-
member exchangebetween the relationship of organizational justice and organizational
citizenship behavior. Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences (PJCSS), 14(3),
635-660
Sofiah, K. K., Padmashantini, P., & Gengeswari, K. (2014). A study on organizational
citizenship behavior in banking industry. International Journal for Innovation Education
and Research, 2(7), 73-82.
Spector, P. E., Goh, A, Bruursema, K., & Kessler, S. R. (2012). The deviant citizen: Measuring
potential positive relations between counter productive work behavior and organizational
citizenship behavior. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology. Loyola
University, Chicago.
Wan, H. L. (2016). Organizational justice and organizational citizenship behavior in Malaysia:
Governance & citizenship in Asia Series. Springer S&B Media Singapore.
Wang, C.-W.; Horng, R.-Y. (2002). The effects of creative problem solving training on
creativity, cognitive type and R&D performance. R D Management., 32, 35–45
Wijeya, L. (2018). Organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Online http://www.ft.lk/Other-
Sectors/Organisational-Citizenship-Behaviour-OCB/57-663754
Williams, E.A, Scandura, T.A, Pissaris, S. & Woods, J.M.(2016).Justice perceptions leader-
member Exchange and upward influence tactics. Leadership and Organizational
Development Journal. 37 (7)211-223,



Xu, E., Huang, X., Lam, C. K., & Miao, Q. (2012). Abusive supervision and work behaviors:
Themediating role of LMX. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(4), 531-543.
Xuhong, R. (2020). What is the difference between hard and soft influence tactics? Online:
https://askinglot.com/what-is-the-difference-between-hard-and-soft-influence-tactics

DOWNLOAD PDF

---

Back