The Mediating Effect of Organizational Citizenship Behaviour on the Relationship Between Big Five Personality Traits and Intention to Stay

Any organization's lifeline is its workforce. Despite the increasing dependence on technology, controlling and maintaining technical systems requires people. Employees are the most important and versatile resources in any company. The business environment is now extremely competitive due to the swift advancement occurring in all areas of the global economy. Employees now have a plethora of options due to this advancement, which makes it challenging for employers to manage and retain employees. Every organisation must retain competent employees since their skill set along with expertise is crucial for having a competitive advantage. Furthermore, companies constantly have the difficulty of addressing the requirements and expectations of their workforce. Taking into account the vital significance of citizenship behaviour that leads to retention, this study aims to examine previous research and literature on the topic, with a special emphasis on the how personality affects retention.The study has applied the social exchange and the planned behavior theory to throw light on the relationship among Big Five Personality traits, Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) and Intention to Stay (ITS) of IT & ITES professionals. The data was collected from five IT & ITES firms through online survey from 271 employees under Gen Z category but only 260 were found usable. correlation, mediation analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and Structural Equation model was conducted for testing the model. The results showed that there was strong association between these constructs. This study proves to be a theoretical framework that creates novelty and broadens the scope for future research in personality and employee retention.